The firm released its first half of 2018 results, and also discussed the plans for its pending acquisition of Spiers & Jeffrey.

UK wealth manager Rathbone Brothers logged a 64.3 per cent increase in its profit before tax for the half year of 2018 from £26.6 million ($35 million) in H1 2017 to £43.7 million.

The significant increase in profit over the first half to 30 June was due to a number of factors, it said.

The main reason was that at the beginning of June, the firm managed to assign all its Curzon Street leases, its old London headquarters, to a third party. This has meant that it could write-back office relocation costs of £2.9 million. Last year the cost that was on the balance sheet was almost £16 million.

Total funds under management were slightly up over the period, by two per cent, to £39.9 billion.

Assets in the investment management arm came in at £34.1 billion, up by 6.6 per cent year-on-year.

The board recommended a 24p interim dividend for 2018.

Acquisition
This publication reported that Rathbones had agreed to acquire Scotland-based Spiers & Jeffrey.

It said that the acquisition would generate underlying earnings per share accretion of at least 8 per cent and a return on investment of approximately 13 per cent by the end of 2021.

It added that the £60 million equity placing that took place in June, to fund the acquisition, meant that shareholders equity rose by 23.3 per cent since the year end to £447.8 million. 

“The acquisition awaits regulatory approval and, as a result, is not due to complete until later this year, but work has commenced on a detailed plan to bring the business seamlessly into our group,” said Phillip Howell, chief executive. “Our priority is to ensure there is minimal disruption to Speirs & Jeffrey clients as well as our own operations, so, accordingly, the migration to our systems will be executed in a measured and carefully planned way towards the middle of 2019. Our commitment to keeping client needs at the forefront of our plans will remain key in guiding our joint decision making.”