Income bonanza as Walker Crips unveils second special dividend

Walker Crips is to reward shareholders with a second special dividend after netting £12.5 million from the sale of its asset management business.

The private client stockbroker netted profit of £10.4 million from the sale of Walker Crip Asset Managers to Liontrust earlier this year.

This has strengthened the firm’s capital base and prompted it to pay a further special dividend of 3p per share, which will be paid alongside its interim dividend and the initial special dividend of 4.5p, which is scheduled to be paid on 3 August.

The firm accompanied the news with a trading update covering the three months to the end of June in which it said revenue decreased by 5% from £2.5 million to £2.4 million year-on-year.

It said traditional stockbroking commission remained under pressure over the quarter, although this was offset by revenues generated by its structured investments team.

The changing relative strengths of the revenue streams led to an increase in the group's proportion of non-broking income to 68.3% versus 60.3% at 31 March.

The quarter also saw Walker Crips recruit a six-strong investment team from Ashcourt Rowan and the firm remains committed to pursuing a growth strategy.

It told the market: ‘Although prevailing trading conditions remain weak, with continued uncertainty emanating from the eurozone, the board believes that there are opportunities for WCG (Walker Crips Group) to develop current and new products and to grow over the medium term.’