Brooks Macdonald raises divi after profits grow by 4%

Brooks Macdonald has raised its dividend by 8% after announcing pre-tax profits rose 4% in the six months to the end of December.

The national wealth manager reported assets under management grew by £1.1 billion, or 31%, over the period with the acquisition of Spearpoint in November adding £686 million. Excluding the deal, assets grew by 11.8% compared with a 4.1% rise in the Apcims Balanced index over this period.

Pre-tax profits rose from £4.08 million to £4.26 million, a figure which includes the £1.05 million acquisition costs for Spearpoint.

On the back of this, the group announced its interim dividend has been raised from 6p to 6.5p year-on-year.

Looking across the business, Brooks’ property arm, Braemer Estates, saw assets grew by 14% to £885 million, while Brooks Macdonald Funds has almost tripled its assets to £323 million up from £114 million with £89 million of the rise coming across from the Spearpoint deal.

Third party assets under administration are now in excess of £100 million as the group looks to diversify its revenue streams.

Less gratifying would have been the £240,000 the group paid for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy, up from £140,000 in the six months to the end of December 2011. For the year to the end of June 2012, the FSCS levy cost the firm £396,000.

Brooks’ chief executive Chris Macdonald (pictured) said: ‘We have had an encouraging start to our second half and look forward with confidence. Since the period end funds under management have continued to grow, with the additional benefit of higher equity markets. We remain focused on completing the successful integration of Spearpoint and anticipate it beginning to contribute to our growth in the second half of the calendar year.’

Reflecting the firm’s growth potential, he added that Brooks has increased its number of investment managers from 55 to 67 over the period with total staff headcount rising from 282 to 361, including 60 that transferred over from Spearpoint.