Schroders said today that net revenues in its wealth management business surged by 88 per cent to £100.5 million ($170 million) in the first half of 2014, boosted by the inclusion of Cazenove Capital, which was bought a year ago.

UK-listed Schroders said today that net revenues in its wealth management business surged by 88 per cent to £100.5 million ($170 million) in the first half of 2014, boosted by the inclusion of Cazenove Capital, which was bought a year ago.

Profit before tax and exceptional items more than doubled to £26.3 million (H1 2013: £10.6 million).

Exceptional items of £8.9 million included integration costs and the amortisation of client relationships acquired, it said in a statement.

Schroders’ acquisition of the Cazenove business has been part of a flurry of wealth management merger and acquisition activity in recent months. For example, Rathbones, another UK-listed firm, has bought Jupiter Fund Management’s private client and charity investment business and the London-based private client wealth business of Tilney Asset Management - previously owned by Deutsche Bank.

Shares in Schroders were down 1.6 per cent (around 9 am UK time) from the previous close.

“The integration of the wealth management business of Cazenove Capital is progressing well and the response from clients has been encouraging,” Schroders said, noting that net inflows in the first half were £300 million.  Assets under management in the wealth business at the end of June were £30.7 billion, up from £16.9 billion a year earlier.

Across the whole of Schroders, the firm said net revenue was up 13 per cent to £728.6 million (H1 2013: £645.1 million) and profit before tax and exceptional items was up 15 per cent to £261.5 million (H1 2013: £228.0 million). The strength of sterling over the past twelve months hit profit before tax of approximately £18.0 million.

Net inflows were £4.8 billion, taking assets under management at the end of June to a record £271.5 billion (30 June 2013: £235.7 billion).