UK investment and savings platform Alliance Trust Savings has returned a profit of £0.4m for the first six months of 2016, compared with a loss of £1.1m for the same period last year.
The improved performance came from a 40% rise in assets under administration and a 31% net increase in customer accounts.
Assets under administration at 30 June, 2016, were £12bn, compared with £8.5bn at December, 2015, and customer accounts saw a net increase of just over 26,000, a 31% uplift. A company statement said that growth was driven by the completion of the Stocktrade acquisition, together with further organic growth in both the direct and advised channels.
Chief Executive of Alliance Trust Savings Patrick Mill said: “In recent years we have made substantial investments in the business with the acquisition of Stocktrade, the creation of a new Board and Executive Committee to oversee our governance and management as a standalone business and the upgrade to new platform technology. These investments are now bearing fruit. Delivering a profit at the half year mark demonstrates the success of our business strategy and the appeal of our flat fee model to both direct and advised customers.
“In the second half of 2016, we expect to continue to win new business attracted by our unique flat fee structure, award winning customer service, and improved platform functionality. We are also making good progress in our corporate Partnership channel and expect this to bring additional business by the end of the year. These factors, together with the greater certainty over our revenue that our fixed fee model gives us, especially in volatile markets, mean we remain confident that we are on track to deliver on our commitment to generate a profit for the full year in 2016.”
