Profits hit at Frenkel Topping
FRENKEL Topping, which provides specialist independent financial advice to personal injury trusts and the families of people awarded money for clinical negligence, has reported an 11% increase in revenue to £6.31m (2014: £5.69m) in its final results to December 31.
However, pre-tax profits for the AIM-listed Manchester company took an 18% hit to £1.29m (2014: £1.57m) as a result of expansion costs of £0.6m and acquisition costs of £0.14m, following the purchase of FC Fund Managers for £4.42m in shares.
Basic earnings per share were down 28% to 1.64p (2014: 2.27p) while assets under management were up 7.6% to £666m (2014: 619m).
The company said it was the seventh consecutive year of high client retention (98%) for investment management services while new offices opened in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff and Bristol.
The acquisition of FC Fund Managers added £2.5m to the company’s cash balance and broadened Frenkel’s investment management capability.
Meanwhile, Jason Granite joined the board and was appointed chief investment officer.
Chairman David Southworth said: “Having recruited carefully and managed the expansion of our regional representation we are extremely well placed to increase operating profitability.
“Receipt of FCA approval will enable us to put our new strategy in place and to migrate our assets to the new model and to target a larger addressable market looking for a capital-preserving investment strategy.
“We are extremely excited by the prospects for the business and look forward to updating the market with further developments in due course.”
Chief executive Richard Fraser said the business was in “fantastic shape” to mvoe frorward with £5m cash on the balance sheet.
“We have national presence with our new regional centres in Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol and London and we are ready to kick on,” he told TheBusinessDesk.
