The UK-listed wealth management group has issued a profit alert for the second half of 2015 in a trading update on the London Stock Exchange.

London-headquartered European Wealth has warned that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) may be hit by lower than expected turnover given slow growth in funds under management.

The firm said the news was disappointing given that European Wealth had reached one of its initial targets of becoming EBITDA positive in the first half of the year.

“Whilst the cross selling between the divisions of the group are showing a material improvement, many of the new revenue generators are taking longer to build an established client base than we had originally anticipated, which together with the subdued trading volumes in global stock markets has resulted in our wealth management division being behind budget,” the group said.

Still, funds under management or advice stood at a record £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) at the end of November, an increase of 20 per cent since the beginning of the year.

The AIM-listed wealth manager has been keeping busy on the acquisition trail. In November last year, it purchased European Wealth (Switzerland) as part of its plan to boost its European operations. Shortly after, Montpelier, an independent financial advisor in the Far East, hired European Wealth as its preferred discretionary fund manager. 

In July 2015, the group completed its acquisition of London-based financial advisory firm ISM Solutions and last month, it agreed to buy Xcap Nominees. However in the new statement, European Wealth said the acquisition, which is expected to bring over £30 million of assets under management to its Manchester office, was taking longer than anticipated to complete.

“The foundations that have been put in place during the course of 2015 are expected to deliver growth in the next 12 months as the group continues to build on its original strategy of organic growth, acquisition and the attraction of revenue-generating staff. These foundations have already facilitated growth in AuM, supported by a back office function that has only increased head count by one in the last 12 months.”