BrewinDolphin profits climb
STOCKBROKER Brewin Dolphin, which has offices in Thornaby and Newcastle, has announced “creditable” interim results today.
The company said that in the half year ending March 31, pre-tax profits had increased by 4.9% to £21.8m, while revenues rose by 6.2% to £104.1m.
James Rainbow, North-east-based divisional director and investment manager, said: “We have had a challenging first half of the year but we have achieved creditable results due in part to the resilience of our investment management division.”
Commenting on recent accusations that investors were fuelling rising prices in oil, gold and commodities including food, he said: “Generally there has been more interest in these products due to their performance in recent times. In a weakening economy, gold is a fairly safe haven.
“It doesn’t surprise me that people are linking investment with the rising price of oil. Clients have been investing in oil for as long as I can remember - not just the product itself but also companies that deal with it.”
Mr Rainbow believes, however, that in tightening economic conditions, investors are being more wary of their cash.
He said: “Caution is the watchword. Investors are not looking to take up too much risk and are keeping a higher proportion of cash in their portfolios.”
Commenting on the results, Jamie Matheson, executive chairman, said: “Within the investment management division there is strong performance from our discretionary fund management activities and our Investment Banking arm has achieved operating profits. Despite difficult conditions we expect a creditable outcome from our group for the year.”
Basic earnings per share increased over the year by 0.3 to 7.5p.
