Charles Stanley full-year losses narrow but revenue slips

Wealth manager Charles Stanley said full-year losses narrowed significantly as it underwent a major restructure, but revenue slipped.

In the year to the end of March, the reported loss after tax narrowed to £300,000 from £6.1m in 2015, although revenue dipped to £141.6m from £149.7m.

The company attributed the drop in revenue to lower levels of activity across the market over recent months, as well as the disposal of non-core businesses.

Clients’ funds under management and administration fell 3.8% to £20.5bn at year-end, hit by the market downturn. The level of managed funds fell less, however, down 2.4% from 2015 to £12bn at the end of March 2016.

The group cash balance increased to £48.1m from £28.5m and the company maintained a total dividend of 5p per share.

Chief executive officer Paul Abberley said: “Our three-fold priorities for the year were to arrest the decline in profitability, determine and begin to implement the strategic direction for Charles Stanley and build the foundations upon which we can drive sustainable growth.

"Solid progress was achieved in each. We have reduced our losses by £5.8m, refocused on core activities that will allow us to deliver high levels of customer satisfaction, and made significant progress in terms of making the group more efficient over the long-term. We look forward to another year of progress as we pursue our aim of becoming the UK's leading wealth manager."

During the year, the strategic review was completed and the core business was reorganised into four main operating divisions: investment management services, asset management, financial planning and Charles Stanley Direct.

Detailed strategic implementation plans were developed for each division and non-core activities Charles Stanley Securities and Charles Stanley Financial Solution Limited were disposed of.

Peel Hunt, which rates the stock at ‘buy’, said the results were broadly as expected with the turnaround strategy ongoing.

At 1306 BST, Charles Stanley shares were down 3.5% to 301p.