The turnaround at broker and asset manager WH Ireland is gathering momentum under chief executive Paul Compton, who joined the Aim-traded company 14 months ago. In fact, stripping out a property write-down on the freehold of the broker's head office and a non-cash goodwill impairment charge, and underlying pre-tax profit surged ahead to £2.2m – producing adjusted EPS of 9.33p.
The former hedge fund manager has achieved this recovery by focusing on the company's three core activities: the UK private client market; corporate broking for small caps; and wealth management. In corporate broking, which accounts for around half of profits, WH Ireland has shrewdly taken advantage of weakness among rivals to recruit 10 corporate financiers to scale-up the operation. The business now has 72 brokerships, having added 14 new clients in the last financial year and a further 10 since then. WH Ireland raised a total of £97m for corporate clients in the 12-month period, up from just £16m in the prior financial year, and a further £30m in the past 12 weeks alone.
The private client division accounts for the balance of profits and has been boosted by the addition of 8,000 former Pritchard Stockbroker clients and £400m of funds to add to £1.4bn of funds WH Ireland's 20,000 private clients had at the year-end. The £500,000 purchase price is a bargain.
WH IRELAND (WHI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 82.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £19.3m | |
| TOUCH: | 80-85p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 85p | LOW: 45p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 51p | NET CASH: | £5.4m | |
| Year to 30 Nov | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 42.7 | 3.93 | 15.62 | 5 |
| 2008 | 32.6 | -4.02 | -13.45 | 1 |
| 2009 | 24.6 | -2.08 | -9.79 | nil |
| 2010** | 18.4 | -0.72 | -1.25 | nil |
| 2011 | 23.1 | -1.44 | -8.00 | nil |
| % change | +26 | – | – | – |
**Restated | ||||
