Brewin Dolphin has announced its Interim Management Report for the half year ended 31 March 2018.
The firm said it had another strong period of organic fund inflows and had made further progress towards achieving its strategic plan.
Highlights
· Total funds stood at £39.7bn at 31 March 2018 (H1 2017: £37.8bn, FY 2017: £40.1bn); with net funds flows of £0.9bn offset by lower investment returns; since then total funds have increased and as at 30 April 2018 were c.£41bn:
o Discretionary funds of £34.3bn, increased by 1.5% (FY 2017: £33.8bn);
o Net discretionary funds inflows, including transfers, of £1.3bn (H1 2017: £1.1bn) representing an annualised growth rate of 7.7% (H1 2017: 7.6%).
· Total income for the period of £161.8m (H1 2017: £147.4m):
o Core income of £156.3m increased by 11.4% (H1 2017: £140.3m);
o Total fee income of £115.6m (H1 2017: £104.7m), increased by 10.4% representing 71.4% of total income (H1 2017: 71.0%); commission income was £32.9m (H1 2017: £33.0m).
· Adjusted profit before tax of £38.8m increased by 19.8% (H1 2017: £32.4m):
o Adjusted profit before tax margin 24.0% (H1 2017: 22.0%).
· Statutory profit before tax of £34.1m, 20.1% higher than H1 2017 (£28.4m).
· Adjusted earnings per share:
o Basic earnings per share increased by 18.9% to 11.3p (H1 2017: 9.5p);
o Diluted earnings per share3 increased by 18.7% to 10.8p (H1 2017: 9.1p).
· Statutory earnings per share:
o Basic earnings per share of 9.7p (H1 2017: 8.2p);
o Diluted earnings per share of 9.4p (H1 2017: 7.9p).
· Interim dividend of 4.4p per share announced, an increase of 3.5% (2017 interim: 4.25p per share).
Chief Executive David Nicol said: “I am pleased to report a robust first half of our financial year with strong net discretionary inflows, despite challenges in the wider market. We continue to deliver against our strategy and build on the positive momentum across the business. We remain positive in our outlook and confident in the strength and increasing relevance of our advice-led service.”
