Rensburg benefits from ‘modest’ market recovery
WEALTH manager Rensburg Sheppards has been buoyed by a “transformation” in market sentiment.
A report covering the group’s half-year to September 30 shows it has begun to recover from the slump of late 2008.
Rensburg said a consensus that a “modest” economic recovery was emerging was, “enough to effect strong rises in equity and credit markets, recovering much of the ground lost in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers failure”.
As a consequence Rensburg, which has offices in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, has seen funds under management increase by 21% to £12.13bn since March. This compared with the increases of 19.2% in the FTSE APCIMS Private Investors Balanced and 32.8% in the FTSE All-Share indices respectively.
But Rensburg is still down on last year, with revenue 10% lower at £51.6m and pre-tax profits off 27% at £12.5m.
Chief executive Steve Elliott, said: “I believe these results reflect Rensburg Sheppards’ ability to withstand difficult market conditions and to take advantage of opportunities to take the business forward.
“We remain focused on maintaining our strong client relationships and on maximising net organic growth in funds under management.”
In its investment management arm Rensburg said fee and other recurring income – excluding interest from client deposits – fell by 1.6% to £30.7m. This compared with a 12.4% reduction in the average of the FTSE APCIMS Private Investors Balanced index.
Rensburg has also appointed Judy Price, Simon Kaye and Tom Street as executive directors of the company. Ms Price is currently the chief operations officer for Rensburg Sheppard Investment Management (RSIM), while Simon Kaye and Tom Street are divisional investment directors of RSIM, heading the Leeds and Sheffield offices respectively.
The directors have declared an interim dividend of 8.5p.
