Charles Stanley eyes Edinburgh expansion

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 20:34

CHARLES Stanley yesterday revealed there are stockbrokers "it has its eye on" to expand its Edinburgh office further, as the group posted a steady rise in profits.

The stockbroking and investment management firm entered the capital in 2002, when it snapped up Torrie & Co for 7.75 million.

The Edinburgh office, which handles traditional retail broking and the firm's internet dealing arm, has 34 staff.

Chairman Sir David Howard told The Scotsman: "Edinburgh is one of our very best branches, and we're very keen to go on adding to the team. There are a number of very good brokers in Edinburgh who we've got our eye on and would be quite interested in having join us."

Howard also said he was optimistic about the outlook for the economy and thought that the FTSE 100 share index could reach 5,500 by the end of the year.

But Howard contrasted his optimism with the view taken by Jeremy Batstone-Carr, an equity strategist at Charles Stanley, who has predicted the Footsie will languish around 4,900 points at the end of this year and fall to 4,700 by the end of 2010.

Howard's comments came as the firm unveiled a 6.8 per cent increase in interim pre-tax profit to 5.5m. Revenue in the six months to 30 September rose by 14 per cent to 56m.

He said the results compared with strong figures in the first half of last year, just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing banking crisis.

Charles Stanley also declared an interim dividend of 2.2p, up by 4.8 per cent on last year.

Funds under management or administration rose from 10.1 billion to 11.6bn, while discretionary funds – for which Charles Stanley has the power to choose the investments – rose to a record high of 3.5bn.

Private client income also rose by 10.9 per cent to 45.7m.

Howard said the general election made 2010 an "uncertain year", while Mike Lilwall – one of Charles Stanley's directors – warned that a hung parliament could spook the markets and throw the recovery in share prices off track.

Mike Clark, the director in charge of dealing and asset management, said the firm was beginning to see companies express an interest in floating on the stock market.

But he said the initial public offering (IPO) market was still being affected by "instability" among small cap firms.

Clark added: "There are signs that companies are beginning to dust off the IPO prospectuses that they may have put on the shelves last October.

"Banks generally are still having trouble lending on a lot of these projects, so I think we'll see a return back to the late 1980s, when there was far less debt finance and far more permanent equity finance put in place."

Shares in Charles Stanley were unchanged at 266.5p, giving it a market capitalisation of 117m.