This was despite hat Rathbones called ‘subdued markets’ and a drop-off in inflows.
The company said there had been £0.7bn of inflows, a big fall from the £3.2 billion recorded in 2014. However this was largely due to the £2.6bn it acquired through deals with Jupiter Asset Management and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management that year.
When those were taken out, Rathbones ‘net organic growth’ was only down £100,000 from £0.8 billion in 2014. The underlying rate of net organic growth was 3% in 2015, down from 4%.
Underlying profit before tax excluding acquisition-related costs, relocation costs and charges in relation to client relationships and goodwill increased 14.3% to £70.4m from £61.6m. Underlying earnings per share increased by 14.3% to 117p from 102.4p.
A final dividend of 34p was recommended, making a total of 55p for the year versus 52p in 2014.
“In spite of subdued investment markets, 2015 was a strong year for Rathbones with our total funds under management growing by 7.4% to £29.2bn,” said chairman Mark Nicholls. “During the year we took the opportunity to raise £20m of long term subordinated loan notes to support our future growth and we have continued to pursue acquisition opportunities which will increase shareholder value. We look forward to completing our recently announced London office move in early 2017, and notwithstanding an uncertain market outlook, have decided to continue progressing our strategic initiatives.”
Nicholls also said the company will “continue to be alert to acquisition opportunities.” He added that Rathbones plans to further develop its private office unit to serve clients with £10m and above.
Relating to this, he said he is currently finalising arrangements with a third party platform to meet these requirements and expects to hire new private bankers to launch the initiative.
