Charles Stanley, the London-based private client stockbroker, saw pre-tax profits jump 27 per cent to £8.4 million ($15.2 million) in its re...

Charles Stanley, the London-based private client stockbroker, saw pre-tax profits jump 27 per cent to £8.4 million ($15.2 million) in its reporting year to end March 2005, compared with the same period a year ago. Fee income rose by 36 per cent to £30 million. David Howard, chairman, whose family controls about 45 per cent of the broker, said commission-based revenues were flat but acquisitions and the drive to annual fees helped boost the company's market share of private client broking from 5.45 to 5.92 per cent. He said: "Our increasing reliance on fee-based income makes us less dependent on the unpredictable volatility of stock exchange trading volumes." Funds under management rose to £7.7 billion from £6.6 billion.