27th May 2015 06:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Brewin Dolphin PLC's chief executive said Wednesday the wealth manager is entering the final stages of the transformation programme launched in 2012, as the company reported higher first-half pretax profit and discretionary funds under management.
In a statement, Brewin Dolphin said its discretionary funds under management amounted to GBP26.2 billion at the end of March, up from GBP24.0 billion at the end of its last financial year and from GBP22.7 billion at the end of the first half of that year.
The wealth manager's GBP37.9 million pretax profit in the first half ended March 31 was higher than the GBP22.0 million recorded in the corresponding period of the prior year.
The increase in pretax profit came as Brewin Dolphin's revenue rose to GBP146.1 million from GBP143.0 million, and operating expenses fell to GBP120.5 million from GBP124.6 million, with the numbers also including a GBP9.7 million gain from the sale of its holding in Euroclear PLC.
"Against the backdrop of the ongoing transformation of the group, financial performance in the first half was good. The growth in funds under management has been strong, helped by the overall upward trend in investment markets over the half year, although periods of volatility did impact transaction volumes and, therefore, impeded income growth. Nonetheless, the benefits of the more focused and efficient business emerging from the business transformation helped maintain profit growth, with the adjusted PBT margin increasing further to 22.3%," Chief Executive David Nicol said in a statement.
"The focus of the transformation programme remains to achieve a stronger business model which can create further value through long term sustainable growth with manageable risks. Increased efficiencies have delivered short term benefits in terms of enhanced shareholder returns. More importantly as we move out of the initial restructuring and simplification phase, these efficiencies enable re-investment in the business which is critical to sustaining organic growth," Nicol added.
Brewin Dolphin increased its interim dividend to 3.75 pence per share from 3.65p per share.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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