Why Mattioli Woods still profits from retirement changes

The investment and asset management arm of the business led the way during the period, with the group's total discretionary assets under management up by 24 per cent at £1.08bn. In a sign of the division's growing strength, its higher-quality recurring revenue increased to 80.9 per cent, compared with 75.5 per cent in FY2014. In its pension administration business, an increase in the total number of schemes administered from 6,322 to 7,444 was offset by a fall in banking income as low interest rates persist.

Revenue from property management services shot up after a £58.6m placing of new equity by Custodian Reit, which is managed by a subsidiary of the group. The majority of this division's revenues are derived by services provided by the subsidiary to the trust, which means it is good news that the latter's market capitalisation has now topped £240m.

Broker Cannacord Genuity expects adjusted EPS of 29.3p for the full 2016 financial year, up from 27.2p in 2015.