Fintech Nucleus doubles half-year earnings

Edinburgh fintech Nucleus Financial Group has almost doubled profits in its maiden results as an Aim-quoted company and is targeting growth at the same rate for the remainder of the year.

David Ferguson, founder and CEO of Nucleus Financial Group, said the company is targeting more of the same for the rest of 2018. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Nucleus, which floated on London’s junior stock market in July, reported a post-tax profit of £2.2 million in interim results for the six months to 30 June, a 98.5 per cent jump compared with the same period for the previous year.

The value of assets on the firm’s platform rose 15.6 per cent from the previous six months to £14.3 billion, while revenue grew by 11 per cent to £21.6m.

Chief executive David Ferguson told The Scotsman: “We were pleased to increase assets, revenues and profit in a harder market, which saw financial advisers adopting GDPR and MiFID II readiness, as well as a volatile stock market.”

Nucleus develops software platforms that enable financial advisers to provide online access to clients for investments across ISAs, pensions and bond accounts.

The company’s adviser numbers rose 7.2 per cent during the past 12 months, a trend which Ferguson expects to continue over the year as the platform is developed further.

He said: “We’re trying to add more adviser users and deepen our penetration of existing adviser users through stronger capabilities on the platform and offline service delivery. The trajectory on new advisers is very positive for us.”

Nucleus will build on successful product launches, such as its capital gains tool and model portfolio analysis tool, by introducing a new client portal to the market later this year.

Ferguson said the company is targeting “more of the same” and hopes to continue “at the same sort of pace” as over the last 12 months.

The company declared an interim dividend of 1.4p per share.

Donald Brown, head of private clients at Brewin Dolphin Edinburgh, said the results were “a strong maiden set of figures” from “one of the most exciting and successful firms to emerge from Edinburgh’s buoyant tech scene in recent years”.

He said: “The development of Nucleus Financial’s existing technology demonstrates that it’s an ambitious company with a commitment to innovation in a competitive marketplace.

“Having floated on Aim in July, the business has cash on the balance sheet to develop and must now demonstrate further growth.”