Charles Stanley boosted by ‘confident’ market

Stockbroker and asset manager Charles Stanley has reported a jump in first-quarter revenues and said it was more confident about its prospects than a year ago.

The firm, which employs about 30 staff in Edinburgh where its team manages more than £500 million of funds, said the “increasingly confident” market conditions helped discretionary funds under management grow 1.4 per cent to almost £6.5 billion during the three months to 30 June.

Revenues received a boost from the uplift in fee and commission income, rising 31 per cent to £36.9m. Fee income accounted for about 59 per cent of total revenues.

In a trading update ahead of its annual meeting, Charles Stanley said: “Although the second half of June saw the FTSE 100 index fall by 1.5 per cent, this has quickly been recovered in July with the FTSE 100 index now at around 6,600.

“Though there are still significant challenges that lie ahead for the wealth management industry, our optimism for the remainder of the year is still a touch higher than it was this time last year.”