17th Mar 2016 08:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Wealth manager Brooks Macdonald Group PLC on Thursday said pretax profit and revenue rose in the first half as it brought more assets under management.
Brooks said its pretax profit for the half to the end of December was GBP5.5 million, compared to GBP4.5 million in 2014, as revenue increased to GBP38.7 million from GBP37.5 million.
The rise in profit and revenue was driven by the group's total discretionary funds under management increasing 12% year-on-year to GBP7.82 billion from GBP6.95 billion a year before.
Brooks said the majority of the growth in funds under management was organically-driven, helped by solid market performance. Excluding the growth driven by market performance, assets under management rose 5.3%.
Property assets under management, through Brooks' Braemar Estates arm, rose to GBP1.13 billion from GBP1.09 billion, while third-party assets under administration rose to GBP270.0 million from GBP225.0 million.
Brooks said it will hike its interim dividend 20% year-on-year to 12.0 pence per share, from 10.0p in 2014, driven by the confidence in its outlook.
"Brooks Macdonald has continued to make good progress, with double digit growth in discretionary funds under management during the first half driving increases in profit and earnings per share. In uncertain markets, we have achieved strong risk adjusted returns for our clients and have progressed a number of significant projects across the group which will help drive future growth," said Chief Executive Chris Macdonald.
"We have continued to see strong organic growth in the early weeks of the second half, albeit the volatility in markets since the New Year is likely to have impacted the group's funds under management," he added.
Shares in Brooks were untraded on Thursday, having last traded at 1,812.00p.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Brooks Macdonald