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Revenue Declines and Strategic Shifts in Management Companies
In the first half of 2025, major management companies faced a challenging market environment, with a significant decrease in revenue for some companies. UК "First", the leader in the last half of 2024, reported an 8.2% decrease in revenue, to 5,700,000,000 rubles.
The slow growth or decrease in revenue for these companies was primarily driven by tightening client budgets, macroeconomic challenges including tariff impacts, declines in specific revenue segments such as livestreaming and licensing, and strategic shifts toward cost management and new revenue sources.
Key factors contributing to revenue stagnation or decline include tightening client budgets and economic uncertainty. Major consulting firms like Capgemini reported nearly flat revenue growth (-0.3%) and a significant profit drop (15%) due to clients reducing spend amidst uncertain economic conditions. Companies such as PVH Corp. cited net negative impacts from ongoing U.S. tariffs, contributing approximately $70 million to lowered EBIT in 2025, complicating revenue growth and margin expansion.
JOYY faced an 18.4% year-over-year fall in livestreaming revenue due to fewer users and lower average revenue per user, causing an overall 10.2% revenue drop despite growth in other segments like ad tech. Similarly, Zhenro Services saw a 4.5% revenue decrease in the first half of 2025.
Amid revenue declines, companies have emphasized cost cuts, improved non-GAAP earnings, and expanded higher-margin ad tech services, partially mitigating revenue contraction effects. Merck increased R&D expenses substantially, impacting short-term profitability despite managing SG&A costs downward.
The market landscape during this period reflected a shift away from traditional revenue streams towards technology-driven or in-house operations to control costs and diversify income. There was also heightened financial discipline and shareholder return focus, with some companies like JOYY accelerating cash returns to investors despite revenue challenges.
Despite the revenue declines, the total remuneration of major management companies amounted to 49,000,000,000 rubles. The number of shareholders at T-Capital increased by 1.5 million people. Alpha-Capital reported an 8% increase in the number of employees, with 26% of them being IT and online segment workers.
Alpha Capital anticipates a 30% increase in revenue compared to the first half of this year. The growth is linked to the redistribution of client assets from classic investment products to stocks, less margin products, and bonds. Retail products such as ETFs and mutual funds are expected to become the growth engine for revenue. Companies working with closed funds have been a significant driver of revenue growth in the market.
Smaller management companies that significantly increased their assets over the past year have seen revenue growth of 2-5 times over the quarter. First Asset Management is expected to see significant revenue growth due to attracting nearly 57% of all inflows into such funds in the second quarter. T-Capital's portfolio manager, Yevgeny Mitukov, reports a growth in assets under management from 70 billion rubles to over 300 billion rubles.
UК "Alfa-Capital" reclaimed the top spot among major MCs, with its revenue growing by 15.7% to 7,200,000,000 rubles. The decrease in revenue for major management companies is primarily attributed to a decline in income from managing mutual investment funds (MIF). The growth rate of revenue from trust management services was more than three times lower than in the same period last year.
The number of employees in the market increased by almost a quarter year-on-year, to 5,380 people. Companies like First Capital have seen a decrease in revenue due to the sale of only low-margin products such as ETFs in the second half of 2024.
Fund managers expect an acceleration in revenue growth due to the Bank of Russia's shift to a softer monetary policy. UК "Aton-Management" rose from fifth place to third among major MCs, with a figure of 2,500,000,000 rubles. The slowdown in the growth of revenue from trust management services is attributed to the weak dynamics of the stock market for most of the reporting period. Administrative expenses in the market increased by 21.7%, to 6.4 billion rubles, and personnel costs increased by 14.5%, to 17 billion rubles. Despite a strong start, the MOEX index ended the first half of 2025 at 2,847 points, 1.3% lower than at the end of 2024.
In summary, the period was characterized by macroeconomic pressures and evolving client spending behaviors that constrained top-line growth, prompting established management companies to pivot toward cost efficiency and alternative revenue models while navigating an uncertain and tightening market environment.
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