Brooks Macdonald takes £545k FSCS hit but profits up

Wealth manager Brooks Macdonald took a £545,000 hit from the FSCS levy last year but profits before tax for the six months to 31 December 2010 still rose 24% to £3.06m.

This compared to £2.47m during the same period in 2009, while turnover rose 53% to £25.1m over the period and earnings per share increased from 18.85p to 20.26p for the AIM-listed group.

Discretionary funds under management at 31 December 2010 were £2.689bn, an increase of £500m or 23% over the six month period. This was supported by markets where the APCIMS balanced index rose by 15.22%.

Brooks Macdonald also outlined plans for its new funds business, which will launch in the summer subject to FSA approval, under the leadership of former SWIP head of sales and marketing Simon Wombwell. 

The group says: "The business will initially consist of the Braemar funds we acquired in July and our existing four Brooks Macdonald funds. We believe this is an exciting development for the group as we widen our wealth management proposition.

"The Braemar property management business has continued to perform well, with property assets under administration growing from £500m to over £650m since we acquired Braemar."

Last year the group announced a maiden interim dividend of 3p per share. Following its strong results, an interim dividend for 2011 of 5p per share will be paid to shareholders on 21 April 2011 with a record date of 25 March 2011.