Brewin delivers the goods amid cost reductions
WEALTH manager Brewin Dolphin yesterday reported a near three-fold increase in pre-tax profits after boosting margins and cutting costs.
The business, which reshuffled its management in March 2013 by ap-pointing new chief executive David Nicol, said pre-tax profits for the six months ending March this year rose to £21.4m, up from £6.8m.
The FTSE 250 listed company is targetting a pre-tax profit margin of 25 per cent by 2016, and yesterday said it was on track after growing the margin from 17.1 per cent 20.3 per cent in the past six months.
“We continue to see strong performance in our business,” Nicol said.
“We think we’re in a growth market and there’s lots of our clients who trust us and need advice.”
Fixed operating costs fell four per cent while exceptional costs dropped from nearly £17m to £8.3m, due to lower charges related to redundancy costs last year.
Shares in the company rose 1.62 per cent yesterday after markets reacted positively to the results.
Brewin caters for around 130,000 well-heeled clients and is hoping that the upcoming changes to retirement savings announced in this year’s Budget will spur customers to put more money under the company’s wing.
“People have a far more complicated set of decisions to make now and the Budget was a clear indication of the state mandating all sorts of things. We are particularly well placed to benefit from that,” Nicol added.