Ashcourt Rowan, the UK wealth management group, made a pre-tax loss of £2.32 million ($3.59 million) in the 12 months to 31 March, an improvement from the £5.75 million loss recorded for the previous year.

The group also reported that it boosted its revenues by 4 per cent to £36.4 million.

Funds under management and influence stood at £4.1 billion, up from £3.9 billion at the end of September last year, but down from £4.46 billion a year earlier.

Investment bank Canaccord Genuity commented that Ashcourt Rowan has a number of profit improvement opportunities internally and speculated that it will become profitable at the underlying level this year with a profit before tax of £1.8 million on a pre-exceptional basis, rising to £2.9 million for 2013/14.

In its financial results, the group also said that it is looking to move to a business model fully compliant with the UK regulator's Retail Distribution Review by September this year. The RDR comes into effect at the start of 2013.

Ashcourt Rowan has also announced the appointment of Hugh Roderick Ward to its board as a non-executive director, with immediate effect.

Last week, the UK-listed wealth manager named dedicated chief executives to take charge of its financial planning and asset management divisions. In newly-created roles, Chris Williams will become CEO of Ashcourt Rowan Financial Planning while Christopher Jeffreys will take the same role at Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management. The move is part of a management shake-up instigated by group CEO Jonathan Polin when he joined the business in September last year.

In 2011, before Polin came on board, the company shed its institutional fund management business to focus exclusively on wealth management. The group then relinquished the name Syndicate Asset Management and rebranded as Ashcourt Rowan. Since then, it has raised money to bolster the firm's balance sheet and invest with the aim of becoming a sizeable wealth manager in the UK.