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LONDON (Alliance News) - WH Ireland Group PLC Monday reported a fall in pretax profit in its last financial year, citing one-off costs amid a "mixed" time for its corporate broking division and restructuring efforts in private wealth management.
In a statement, the AIM-listed corporate broker and private wealth manager said it made a GBP456,000 pretax profit in the year ended November 30, 2014, compared with a GBP1.7 million pretax profit in the prior year, even as revenue edged up to GBP30.0 million from GBP29.7 million.
The group said its adjusted operating profit, which strips out one-off charges, rose to GBP1.5 million from about GBP900,000 in the prior year.
The charges classified as "one-off" consisted of legal and regulatory costs, as well as those associated with restructurings.
WH Ireland's private wealth management division, which reported an 8.4% increase in assets under management to GBP2.7 billion, underwent a big restructuring in the year, closing unprofitable offices and transferring assets to larger ones. Discretionary assets under management increased to GBP722 million from GBP506 million, while advisory assets rose by GBP21.0 million to GBP952 million, as the division targeted a shift towards fee paying assets.
In corporate broking, WH Ireland reported a 6.7% increase in retainer fee income to GBP3.2 million, while transaction fees were down by 14% to GBP4.9 million due to postponed or cancelled fundraising or mergers and acquisitions , as the division focuses on building recurring revenue.
"The current financial year has begun satisfactorily with continued growth in our corporate client base, an improving pipeline of corporate transactions and further asset growth in our private wealth management business. We look forward to the year ahead with cautious optimism," Rupert Lowe, chairman, said in a statement.
Chief Executive Richard Killingbeck said that both of the company's divisions are "well placed" to build momentum in the current financial year.
"In the corporate broking division the focus will remain on the continued growth in the number of corporate clients and the successful execution of corporate transactions whilst the private wealth management division will continue to focus upon the growth of fee paying discretionary and advisory assets," Killingbeck said.
"Finally, but very importantly, in 2014 we grew our recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue to 33%. Our target remains 50% but this year's performance marks the third year of improvement in this key measure of earnings quality. Both divisions have contributed to this growth which encourages me immensely and reinforces my positive outlook for WH Ireland in the year ahead," Killingbeck said.
The group increased its final dividend to 2.0 pence per share from 1.5 pence in the prior year. WH Ireland does not pay an interim dividend.
WH Ireland shares were down 6.4% at 87.50 pence on Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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