Share acquires book of 8,000 accounts

Independent stockbroker Share, which operates The Share Centre, posted an update on trading - including its third quarter performance - and announced an agreement to acquire a book of 8,000 customer accounts on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded company's performance in the quarter was in line with management expectations, with revenues excluding interest increasing by 7% year-on-year, up from the 1% increase for the first half of the year.

Assets held on behalf of customers increased by 34% to £3.6bn year-on-year, which the board said reflected the benefit of acquisitions as well as the continued strength of customer interaction and net account transfers in from other brokers.

The rise represented a 6% increase quarter-on-quarter, in line with the FTSE All Share Index over the period.

Share's market share of peer group revenues, excluding interest, for Q3 was 10.08%.

That compared to 10.06% in the second quarter and 10.88% in the third quarter of last year.

Including interest, Share's market share in Q3 was 7.72%, compared to 7.87% in Q2 2016 and 8.41% in Q3 last year.

The company also announced an agreement to acquire a book of 8,000 client accounts, predominantly ISAs, containing approximately £200m of assets under administration.

Share said the acquisition is expected to complete in April 2017, and is in line with the company's strategy of signing strategic partnerships.

“Share's trading performance in the third quarter of the year was in line with management expectations, with revenues excluding interest up by 7% year-on-year and assets up by 34% year-on-year to £3.6bn,” said chief executive Richard Stone.

“These encouraging results reflect the benefits of the acquisitions we have made as well as net account transfers-in from other brokers.”

Stone said the board was also delighted to announce that it had reached terms to acquire a book of 8,000 active accounts.

“This new agreement highlights our high quality customer service and compelling flat-fee pricing proposition.

“The Share Centre remains a compelling home for wealth management businesses looking to find a suitable provider of execution-only services or looking to exit the execution-only element of their operations.”