Charles Stanley bullish as it returns to pre-crash levels
STOCKBROKER Charles Stanley yesterday posted a 6.8 per cent increase in its first-half pre-tax profit and gave a bullish outlook for the rest of the year.
The independent broker said it was back to “pre-Lehman Brothers” levels of performance, driven by an increase in income from its Private Client division and the benefit of recent acquisitions.
Charles Stanley reported pre-tax profit of £5.49m on revenues 14.1 per cent higher at £55.9m. The firm said that funds under management or administration stood at £11.6bn, up 15 per cent year-on-year.
Chairman Sir David Howard said that his outlook for the next six months was bullish – reflected by the firm’s decision to increase the interim dividend by 4.8 per cent to 2.2p – but warned that 2010 would be an uncertain year.
“All we can do is keep things shipshape, hold on to the cash and keep our eyes open for attractive acquisitions,” Howard said. He added that quantitative easing (QE) has increased liquidity and that a sense of momentum also seemed to be underpinning hopes for the recovery. He said: “One doesn’t want to say that the City is over the worst, while the rest of the country still struggles. But here is a sense that we have turned a corner.”