SHARES in Edinburgh investment business Nucleus Financial nudged up by almost 2p yesterday after the firm reported a 2.3 per cent increase in assets under administration at the end of a year in which the FTSE All-Share index fell by 13%.

The firm’s assets under administration figure for 2018 was impacted by the market contracting in both the first and last quarters of the year, while inflows of new funds slowed from £665m in the first quarter to £462m in the fourth.

However, in total, assets held via the firm’s platform increased from £13.6 billion at the end of December 2017 to £13.9bn a year later, with an increase in the number of financial advisers who use its site to invest client funds adding to the rise. Adviser numbers rose by 6% to 1,396 over the year while customer numbers increased by 7% to 93,715.

Founder and chief executive David Ferguson hailed the growth against what he called a “challenging market backdrop”, noting that the firm had managed to increase assets under administration, adviser users and customer numbers in every year since it launched in 2006.

“Having listed the business in quarter three 2018 and reorganised our major outsourcing relationships in quarter four 2018, we are now focused on accelerating our growth within the sector,” he added.

The firm, which was initially part-owned by around 75 of the 800 financial advisory businesses that use its technology, raised £32.1 million in exchange for 23% of its equity when it floated on the Alternative Investment Market last year.

At the time of the flotation the firm had a market capitalisation of £139.9m, but despite its share price rising from 160p to 161.6p yesterday that has now come down to just over £122m.