11th Aug 2021 09:23
(Alliance News) - Quilter PLC on Wednesday raised its interim dividend amid a double-digit rise in profit and revenue, as a result of positive equity market movements.
Shares in the wealth management firm were down 4.4% at 161.50 pence on Wednesday in London, the worst performer in the FTSE 250 index. Quilter's Johannesburg shares were 3.6% lower at ZAR33.42.
For the six months ended June 30, adjusted pretax profit rose 20% to GBP85 million from GBP71 million in the same period a year prior, on net fee revenue which grew 6.5% to GBP357 million from GBP335 million.
Revenue growth was driven by a 18% rise in assets under management and administration to GBP126.6 billion at the end of June from GBP107.4 billion on the same date a year before and 7.5% from GBP117.8 billion on December 30.
The rise in managed and administrated assets was a result of positive market movements amid an equity market rally earlier in 2021.
In addition, Quilter reported positive net client cash flow of GBP2.5 billion, more than doubled from GBP1.1 billion a year prior, with net inflows rising to GBP2.0 billion from GBP1.3 billion, and gross sales rising 43% to GBP6.6 billion from GBP4.6 billion on increased adviser activity on the Quilter Investment Platform.
NCCF per adviser rose to GBP2.2 million during the period from GBP1.6 million; however this was marked by a reduction in the number of restricted advisers to 1,701 at the end of June from 1,842 at December 31, as part of Quilter's productivity drive.
Quilter declared an interim dividend of 1.7 pence per share, up 70% from 1.0p a year prior.
"I am pleased with our interim results which demonstrate strong growth in flows across our business, with a material improvement from our new platform following our final migration of clients and advisers in February. This improving momentum sets us up well to achieve our medium-term target of 6% net flows from 2022 onwards. With the sale of Quilter International, our results demonstrate good early progress on our more focused, UK-based strategic path and gives a taste of what we know our business can deliver in the future," said Chief Executive Officer Paul Feeney.
"As well as making important progress on our strategic initiatives, we also delivered robust financial results, with further operating efficiency improvements from our Optimisation initiatives. We are ahead of where we planned to be at this stage and are on track to meet our operating margin targets of 25% in 2023 and 30% by 2025," Feeney added.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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