Brewin Dolphin boosted by discretionary funds

Wealth manager Brewin Dolphin saw total funds under management tick back above 25 billion pounds driven by a lift in discretionary funds.

Total managed funds reached £25.7bn at the end of March, compared with £24bn in September 2011 and £25bn a year before.

The 7.1% rise in total funds was driven by a 10.9% lift in discretionary funds to £17.3bn, the firm said.

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Pre-tax profit from continuing operations was up 3.3% to £12.3m, although the firm benefitted significantly from the absence of the large Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy that hit it the previous year.

When adjusted for costs including redundancies, the FSCS levy and clients closing their accounts, profits were down 17% to £18.9m.

The company maintained its interim dividend of 3.55p per share.

Executive Chairman Jamie Matheson said he viewed the future with cautious optimism.

"While it would be easy to become distracted by the impact of the economic and political difficulties in Europe, there remains a growing demand for our services and an increasing appreciation of the place of equity within the savings industry," he said.

"While our ability to influence the short term outlook is clearly limited, a very significant amount of work is being undertaken to ensure that Brewin Dolphin is ready to meet efficiently future conditions and the requirements of our clients."

The firm added that the implementation of a strategic review of its operations was going to plan and was on budget.