What makes for success in difficult markets? In the office last week, the FTfm team was trying to tease out a common thread to our front page story about asset managers doing well. Were they a disparate bunch who got lucky, or had they cleverly been offering the right products at the right time?

I asked Gary Black, chief executive of Janus Capital Group, who was passing through London, whether he could identify a theme. He pointed out that BlackRock, Janus and T Rowe Price, the big US managers reporting increases in assets under management, were all trading at high multiples – recognition of their achievements and perceived growth prospects. He also said T Rowe, in common with Janus, has good fund performance and a strong focus on growing its non-US business.