Michael Dobson, chief executive of Schroders, said he was happy with his company's performance amid "volatile" trading conditions for fund managers, and would not be cutting costs - as profits fell slightly, but stayed ahead of forecasts by equity analysts.

Schroders said this morning, in a first-quarter management statement, that it made £95.5m in pre-tax profits in the first three months of the year. That was down by 8% on the same period a year ago.