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LONDON (Alliance News) - WH Ireland Group PLC said Thursday it expects "strong progress in the group's profitability" in the current financial year driven by lower costs in the private wealth management division.
The company said profitability in the year that began April 1 also will be boosted by "more normalised" levels of transaction revenue from the corporate and institutional broking division.
Shares in the the wealth manager and corporate broker were trading down 14% midday Thursday at 105.25 pence.
The company changed its accounting reference date from November 30 to March 31, meaning that the recent financial year was extended to 16 months.
In that 16 months period to March 31, WH Ireland said its private wealth management division continued its transition to a fee-driven model, which accounted for over 70% of the firm's asset under management and boosted income by 20% year-on-year.
Over the same period, the firm said its wealth planning team witnessed a 50% growth in fees. Recurring fee revenue accounted for more than 60% of total revenue in the division.
However, execution only assets declined "significantly" after the platform fees' introduction.
The company said investment costs for the operational platform changes were "higher than expected" in final four month period.
The corporate and institutional broking division saw levels of transaction based fee income plunge, as the business depended on market conditions.
