20th Feb 2014 08:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - Jarvis Securities PLC Thursday said its pretax profit increased by 30% last year as revenue growth outweighed expenses, with the strockbroker doing well off the back of the Royal Mail PLC initial public offering.
Jarvis Securities shares were Thursday trading up by 5.5% at 450.00 pence each, meaning the stock's value has more than doubled since the 188.75 closing price on February 20 2013, aided by new rules that allow AIM-listed stocks to be included in ISAs and good growth.
In a statement, Jarvis Securities said it made a GBP3.1 million pretax profit in 2013, compared with a GBP2.4 million pretax profit the year prior, giving rise to a 29% increase in its dividend to 14.5 pence. Chairman Andrew Grant said he expects the company's profitability to be enhanced by new commercial contracts which have reduced its marginal cost per trade.
"There is no secret to our success," Grant said in a statement.
"We focus on the core business and do not venture into unknown territory. We strive to provide a good level of service at a lower cost than our competitors. We embrace technology to bring efficiencies to our processes and growth in volume while revenue is not accompanied by a growth in costs," Grant said.
He said the stockbroker will use 2014 to improve the "aesthetics and functionality" of its retail websites, which Grant said will give clients access to more functions and account maintenance online.
"The end of 2013 also saw a heightened interest in IPOs after several lean years with strong interest from retail investors," Grant said.
"The most high profile was Royal Mail, in which Jarvis gained some positive press exposure for its low cost execution only share dealing services and attracted unprecedented demand for new accounts. These high profile offerings generate a lift in transaction volumes across the market, but they also present an opportunity to gain clients and entice new active traders into the stock market," he said.
The Chairman said he expects growth to continue at a similar growth level in Jarvis Securities' next financial results.
"We are seeing a strong start to the current year so I see no reason to change this view for 2014. We have several significant new commercial relationships in place which went live in the last quarter of 2013, and our pipeline for further new business continues to look strong," Grant said.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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