WH Ireland helped by stock market revival
STOCKBROKING group WH Ireland, which has recently been beset by a bitter boardroom feud, said today its half year figures had been helped by the recent stock market revival.
The Manchester firm, which has offices in Leeds and parted company with long-standing directors Laurie Beevers and David Youngman after a fall-out with their boardroom colleagues over strategy, said it was still cautious and cancelled the payment of its interim dividend.
In the six months to May 31 turnover increased by 6% to £17.1m, while operating losses fell to £49,000 from £524,000 last year.
Bottom line losses were reduced also, falling to £523,000 frrom £736,000.
Despite the improvement, chairman Rupert Lowe said the firm was continuing to cut costs.
He said: “Our turnover benefited from a strong start to the period in our stockbroking business. The decline in corporate finance activity in our target market within the securities business was reflected in the reduced turnover from this segment, whilst our Australian business was impacted by a fall in both stockbroking and corporate finance volumes.”
Looking ahead Mr Lowe, best-known for his former role as chairman of Southampton Football Club, added: “Whilst the recent market rally is a positive development we remain cautious on the impact on stockbroking revenues and corporate finance activity in the near term. We are actively pursuing initiatives to enhance our private wealth management offering and look forward to making significant progress on this in the second half of the financial year.”
