Brewin Dolphin hikes dividend despite profit dip

Wealth manager Brewin Dolphin today reported a 4.3 per cent dip in annual profits as it counted the cost of a restructuring drive, but said shareholders were in line for a 40 per cent hike in their final dividend.

The firm, which has been shedding staff and closing offices in a bid to trim its costs, posted a pre-tax profit of £28.6 million for the year to 29 September, down from £29.9m a year earlier.

Excluding redundancy costs and other one-off items, adjusted pre-tax profits jumped 22 per cent to £52.3m. Total funds under management rose 8.9 per cent to £28.2 billion.

Brewin Dolphin proposed a final dividend of 5.05p a share, up from 3.6p a year ago, bringing the total payout for the year to 8.6p.

Chief executive David Nicol said: “The board is implementing a dividend policy from 2014 based on a target dividend payout ratio of between 60 to 80 per cent of annual reported adjusted diluted earnings per share to deliver the new strategic priority of ensuring that dividends grow in line with underlying adjusted earnings.”