Public Market Outflows Hit $7.6 Billion While Fiera Capital’s Assets Rise to $163.5 Billion

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Fiera Capital ended its second quarter with more money under management, but the path to that higher total tells a more complicated story. The Montreal-based asset manager reported $163.5 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, up $3.3 billion from three months earlier. Yet Public Markets experienced approximately $7.6 billion in net organic outflows during the quarter.

Strong financial markets did much of the heavy lifting. Market movements and other effects added roughly $10.9 billion to total assets, more than offsetting money leaving public-market mandates. That contrast — rising assets alongside significant client outflows — puts the focus on whether Fiera can convert investment performance and growth initiatives into sustainable organic expansion while maintaining profitability, controlling costs and managing a sizable debt position.

Markets Added More Than Clients Took Away

The headline $163.5-billion AUM figure represented a 2.1% increase from $160.2 billion at the end of March. It was also 1.9% above the $160.5 billion reported a year earlier. At first glance, that looks like a straightforward quarter of growth. The underlying movements show otherwise. Fiera recorded approximately $7.5 billion in negative net organic growth across the company, while market movements and other factors contributed about $10.9 billion. The result was a net increase of roughly $3.3 billion.

That distinction matters for an asset manager because market-driven AUM and client-driven growth are not interchangeable. Rising markets can increase the value of portfolios already under management without requiring Fiera to win a single additional mandate. In a strong quarter, that effect can make the overall asset base look healthier even while clients are redeeming or reallocating money. For management, the challenge is turning the larger asset base into evidence of durable demand rather than relying on market appreciation to compensate for withdrawals.

Public Markets Recorded $7.6 Billion in Net Outflows

Public Markets accounted for virtually all of the quarter’s organic pressure. Fiera reported net organic growth of negative $7.55 billion in the platform, rounded by the company to approximately $7.6 billion of net outflows. That included about $2.2 billion of negative organic growth in directly managed Public Markets and approximately $5.3 billion from sub-advised assets. Total Public Markets AUM nevertheless rose from $137.9 billion to $141.2 billion because market and other effects contributed approximately $10.8 billion.

The sub-advised business remained the largest source of pressure. It recorded roughly $3.7 billion of lost mandates and another $1.6 billion of negative net contributions during the quarter. Management said overall outflows reflected a previously disclosed sub-advisory redemption as well as client rebalancing across equity and fixed-income mandates. For an investment manager, rebalancing can be routine at the individual-client level, but billions of dollars moving at once can materially affect fee-generating assets. Fiera therefore enters the second half with organic flows carrying greater significance than the headline AUM increase alone suggests.

Fiera’s Core Public-Market Business Still Grew in Value

There was a more encouraging development beneath the outflow numbers. Public Markets excluding sub-advised assets finished June with approximately $110.4 billion under management, up $4.6 billion, or 4.3%, from March. Market and other effects added nearly $6.8 billion to that business during the quarter. New mandates contributed roughly $566 million, primarily from equity strategies, although lost mandates and negative client contributions more than offset those new wins on an organic basis.

The numbers illustrate why asset-management results require more than a glance at quarter-end AUM. Fiera’s directly managed public portfolios became substantially more valuable during the period, even as existing clients collectively withdrew or rebalanced more capital than new mandates supplied. That creates two competing signals. Investment-market conditions supported the asset base, but sales and retention still need improvement. Chief Executive Officer Maxime Ménard said the company was building momentum through financial-intermediary relationships and remained focused on generating stronger and more diversified organic growth. Sustaining that momentum would reduce Fiera’s dependence on favourable markets to produce higher AUM.

Private Markets Offered a Small but Important Counterweight

Private Markets provided a much steadier picture. Assets in the platform reached approximately $22.3 billion at June 30, compared with $22.2 billion three months earlier. Net organic growth was modest at roughly $25 million, while market and other impacts added approximately $74 million. On a year-over-year basis, preliminary figures showed Private Markets AUM had risen about 6.7% from $20.9 billion in June 2025.

The size of that business means it cannot yet offset multi-billion-dollar redemptions elsewhere, but its direction matters strategically. Management specifically pointed to continued demand for real estate and private-credit strategies. Those areas can diversify an asset manager whose traditional public-market business is exposed to institutional rebalancing, competitive fee pressure and changing allocation preferences. Private assets also tend to behave differently from daily traded portfolios because capital is commonly committed for longer periods. For Fiera, the opportunity is therefore not simply to make Private Markets bigger. It is to build a more balanced revenue and asset base in which one large public-market redemption has less ability to dominate the quarterly story.

Higher Ending Assets Did Not Translate Into Higher Year-Over-Year Revenue

Fiera generated $155.1 million of revenue in the second quarter, an improvement of $1.8 million, or 1.2%, from the first three months of 2026. Compared with the same quarter last year, however, revenue declined $7.9 million, or 4.8%. Management attributed the annual decline largely to lower Public Markets base-management fees, particularly from sub-advised assets, along with lower earnings from joint ventures and associates and reduced commitment and transaction fees.

One reason the $163.5-billion ending AUM figure did not automatically produce stronger revenue is timing. Average AUM during the quarter was $162.3 billion, down from $163.3 billion in the first quarter, even though ending AUM was higher. Market appreciation arriving later in a reporting period can lift quarter-end assets without contributing a full quarter of management fees. Fee rates also vary considerably between strategies. Consequently, the composition and source of AUM can matter almost as much as the total. Fiera’s numbers demonstrate why sustained client retention remains financially important even when markets are rising.

Cost Cuts Helped, but Earnings Remained Below Last Year

Fiera continued reducing costs compared with 2025. Selling, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation were $113.1 million, down $4.2 million, or 3.6%, from the second quarter of last year. Management said lower employee compensation tied to continuing cost-optimization efforts and reduced sub-advisory fees contributed to the decrease. Those savings helped cushion the effect of weaker revenue but were not enough to prevent a decline in adjusted profitability.

Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $42 million, down 8.1% from $45.7 million a year earlier. The adjusted EBITDA margin slipped to 27.1% from 28%. Adjusted net earnings attributable to shareholders came to $23.9 million, compared with $27.2 million in the second quarter of 2025, while adjusted diluted earnings per share declined to $0.21 from $0.24. On an IFRS basis, net earnings attributable to shareholders were $3.5 million and diluted EPS remained $0.03. The results leave management balancing two priorities: protecting margins through cost discipline while preserving enough investment to rebuild organic growth.

Cash Flow Improved, but Debt Moved Higher

One of the stronger year-over-year figures appeared in cash generation. Last-twelve-month free cash flow reached $92.9 million, up $17.6 million, or 23.4%, from the comparable figure reported a year earlier. Fiera attributed the improvement primarily to stronger cash generated from operating activities, together with lower interest payments on long-term debt and debentures and lower lease payments. Compared with the first quarter, however, trailing free cash flow declined 2.8%.

Debt remains an important part of the financial picture. Net debt increased by roughly $23 million during the quarter to $723.3 million, while Fiera’s net debt ratio rose from 3.6 times to 3.8 times. The ratio was also slightly above the 3.7 times reported a year earlier. That means cash-flow improvement is occurring alongside higher leverage rather than a clear reduction in indebtedness. For shareholders watching capital allocation, future quarters will show how Fiera balances debt management, investment in growth initiatives, dividends and potential share repurchases as it works through continued pressure on organic flows.

The Dividend and Buyback Remain Part of the Shareholder Equation

Fiera’s board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.108 per share on August 6, payable September 17 to shareholders of record on August 20. The company also received Toronto Stock Exchange approval to renew its normal course issuer bid, allowing it to purchase for cancellation as many as four million Class A shares between August 16, 2026 and August 15, 2027. That maximum represents approximately 4.6% of the Class A shares outstanding as of August 3.

Fiera used the previous authorization much more modestly, purchasing and cancelling 691,605 shares for approximately $3.9 million at a weighted-average price of $5.63. The renewed authorization gives management flexibility rather than requiring the full four million shares to be purchased. Taken together, the dividend and buyback capacity show that returning capital remains part of Fiera’s strategy even as leverage and organic outflows demand attention. The central question for the remainder of 2026 is therefore straightforward: whether improving client flows can begin doing more of the work that favourable markets performed during the second quarter.

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