Growing funds under management continued to push fee revenues at Rathbone Brothers (RAT) higher in the first half. A combination of investment gains and net inflows helped funds under management grow 7 per cent in the period to £36.6bn for the wealth manager. Its investment management business added £0.4bn in organic new business, and it bought in a further £0.2bn. Funds under management among its unit trusts were also up by £0.6bn, of which close to half was net inflows.
Fee income was up by a fifth to £106m thanks to the bigger asset pile. However, revenue generated by commissions – which had been on the decline last year – looks to have turned a corner, increasing 12 per cent on the prior comparable due to benign market conditions.
Management is looking to shore up future inflows through promoting its services to independent financial advisers and other intermediaries. Net flows through this network were close to doubling at £108m, on track for the group’s target of £200m by the end of 2017.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted pre tax profit of £81.4m, giving EPS of 127p for the full year to the end of December 2017 (from £74.9m and 121pin 2016).
| RATHBONE BROTHERS (RAT) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 2,653p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.36bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,651-2,659p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,694p | LOW: 1,726p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.2% | PE RATIO: | 31 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 669p* | |||
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Total operating income (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 120 | 22.8 | 35.7 | 21.0 |
| 2017 | 148 | 26.6 | 41.6 | 22.0 |
| % change | +23 | +16 | +17 | +5 |
| Ex-div: | 07 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 03 Oct | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £163m, or 318p a share | ||||
