Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - XPS Pensions Group PLC on Thursday said Chief Financial Officer Mike Ainslie will step down from his job at the end of June, as the pension consultancy swung to an interim loss but hiked its payout.
Ainslie, who has been CFO since October 2015, will leave once the company has appointed a successor, and the search for Ainslie's replacement has begun.
For the six months to September 30, XPS Pensions - formerly Xafinity PLC - swung to a pretax loss of GBP1.1 million from a profit of GBP3.8 million a year before.
The company's revenue doubled to GBP52.2 million from GBP24.5 million but its administrative expenses increased by even more to GBP52.4 million from GBP20.4 million.
The large increase in both revenue and administrative expenses reflects XPS Pensions' addition of the Punter Southall Pensions Group Ltd's actuarial, administration and investment businesses in January, having been purchased for GBP159 million.
XPS Pensions upped its interim dividend by 9.5% to 2.3 pence from 2.1p.
"This is the first reporting period that includes the Punter Southall acquisition for the duration of the period. The combined business has done well following the merger, with several large new clients and project wins occurring during H1 2019, as well as the continued rollout of our market-leading technology offering 'Radar'," said Co-Chief Executive Officer Ben Bramhall.
The UK pensions specialist's Pension revenue in the first half, which is 53% of the company's total revenue, jumped 81% to GBP27.8 million from GBP15.4 million the year before.
XPS Pensions won 12 "material clients" in the first half of financial 2019. A material client is one which delivers more than GBP40,000 in annual revenue. The company won 6 material clients in the second half of financial 2018.
The company believes the "significant" amount of time spent on "valuable integration activities" left the group "well positioned" but "suppressed" revenue growth in the first half.
Co-Chief Executive Officer Paul Cuff said: "We are delighted to see that the enhanced capabilities of the integrated company have already resulted in a number of impressive new client wins, and we remain confident as we move into the second half of 2019 of the exciting new business opportunities available in this current regulatory environment."
Shares in XPS Pensions were down 2.4% Thursday at 161.00 pence each.
