Adds details throughout, shares in paragraphs 1 and 8

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Britain's Jupiter Fund Management JUP.L on Thursday posted an annual net inflow for the first time since 2017, and said client demand for risk assets had continued to grow in 2026, sending its shares up more than 14%.

The wealth manager also launched a 30 million pounds ($40.7 million) share buyback and declared a special dividend of 5.7 pence per share.

Jupiter has said rising volatility in the U.S. markets from President Donald Trump's trade policies and geopolitical uncertainty has shifted client sentiment to favour the relatively safer UK markets.

The company posted 1.3 billion pounds ($1.76 billion) in net inflows for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared with 10.3 billion pounds of net outflows a year earlier.

Jupiter reported positive net flows in both its institutional and retail-and-wholesale client channels, with the latter seeing a marked improvement in sentiment through the second half.

"This positive momentum has continued into the start of 2026, and we continue to be net positive across both of these client channels as of today," the company said in its annual results.

The wealth manager reported annual adjusted pretax profit of 138.3 million pounds, beating a company-compiled analyst consensus estimate of 108.6 million pounds.

Shares of the company rose to as much as 214.5 pence, their highest level since February 2022.

($1 = 0.7378 pounds)