Brewin Dolphin builds funds under management

Wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin reported growth in funds under management after equity markets remained 'surprisingly resilient'.

Funds under management at the year end were £25.9bn, up by 7.9% from the year before.

The most significant rise was the 16.7% growth of our discretionary funds to £18.2bn.

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The firm saw an 8.3% fall in advisory funds to £7.7bn.

Stripping out items such as redundancy costs and the additional Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy, profit before tax was up 8.3% to £42.9m.

On the same basis, earnings per share were up 6.5% to 13.2p.

The firm will pay a final dividend of 3.6p per share, bringing the total dividend for the period to 7.15p, up from 7.10p the year before.

Brewin said it was "very conscious of the need to return to a progressive dividend policy" after years of financial turmoil, as well as investment in IT and dealing with regulation costs.

Executive Chairman Jamie Matheson said equity markets had remained remarkably resilient and there was some sign of improved trading volumes since the summer.

"Many of the problems that caused concern in the financial services industry during the past year remain unresolved," he added.

"This particularly relates to the euro and more generally to prolonged economic weakness throughout the developed world."