Share Centre parent company reports earnings ahead of expectations

Share, the parent company of popular retail stockbroker The Share Centre, announced it had seen a 23% increase in revenue over the first half to £8.9m.

The firm reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £310,000, a significant increase on the £110,000 posted over the same period in 2016.

Because of £628,000 gained from the sale of London Stock Exchange Group shares in 2016, statutory profits fell to £75,000 from £190,000.

Assets under administration reached a new record of £4.3bn after rising by 26%.

As a whole, results were said to be "ahead of original management expectations," with a 12% market share, earnings per share of 0.2p and a strong balance sheet with shareholders' funds up at £17.7m versus £17.6m one year back.

Richard Stone, the chief executive of Share, said "These encouraging results are ahead of our original expectations and reflect both strong trading volumes and the benefits of the partnership agreements signed in 2016, including the launch of services for Computershare. Significantly half the growth in the period was organic, achieved through our core business which trades as The Share Centre, and through share.com."

As of 1615 BST, shares remained flat at 26.88p.