With performance fees for the period totalled £4.7m, profits on this figure had risen from £600,000 to £2.4m.
Statutory net profit increased from £2.7m for the six months ended 31 December 2015 to £6.1m in this latest period.
Fee-earning assets under management (AUM) increased by 13% to £28.7bn with mandated AUM increased by 15%.
Statutory basic and diluted earnings per share were 7.41p per share and 7.40p per share respectively, compared with 3.25p and 3.01p per share over the comparable period last year.
The board has declared an interim dividend of 5.6p per share, of which 1.4p is a special dividend and relates to net performance fees.
River and Mercantile is setting aside an additional £300,000-£400,000 as it adopts a new IT infrastructure solution that will include disaster recovery due to complete as we move into the summer.
Mike Faulkner, chief executive at the group recognised the changing interest rate environment and said an environment of rising bond yields is one in which performance fees on fiduciary management are expected to improve, as has been the case in the past six months – with performance fees reported being the highest since the group’s IPO.
He added: “Clearly our ongoing performance fees are exposed to a significant fall in rates from here, but the corresponding effect of rising AUM in our Fiduciary Management division would be an offsetting effect.”
Looking ahead, Faulkner said: “The search for alpha remains, but the need for high quality asset allocation and risk management will likely also remain for as long as the world seems to be a highly uncertain place and seems unlikely to become any more certain in the near future.
“While there are clearly very significant and continuing political risks, the abundance of capital chasing return should continue to influence the environment for investors. The regulatory context is also important to consider and is not going away.”
