Curtis Banks gets boost from Suffolk Life acquisition

Curtis Banks Group announced on Monday that the number of SSIPs under administration grew to over 75,000 in the first half thanks to a full-period of contributions from its January 2016 acquisition of Suffolk Life Group.

Assets under administration rose to £23.10m from £17.90m and operating revenue gained 98% in the year to £21.4m.

While profit before tax, amortisation and non-recurring grew by 85% to £5m from the £2.7m it posted a year earlier, it was down 34% from the £7.1m it posted on 31 December.

The interim dividend was increased 50% to 1.5p per share as basic earnings per share jumped by 102% to 6.10p from 1.96p.

Of the results, chief executive Rupert Curtis said "The integration of Suffolk Life continues apace and we have established a group management committee and new group brand. We have also made considerable progress in rationalising our office network and delivering efficiencies. As in previous years, we expect performance will be weighted towards the second half of the year and we remain confident about delivering further profitable growth in the future."

As of 1700 BST, shares were down 3.60% to 272.69p.