Share smashes revenue record as it returns to profitability

Share, the parent company of independent retail stockbroker The Share Centre reported a 12% improvement in revenue to a record £21.0m in its preliminary results on Wednesday, which it said was helped by a first full year of its Computershare partnership.

The AIM-traded firm said commission income was up by 3% to a record £10.9m, with fee income growing by 8% during the year ended 31 December also to a record of £7.8m, while interest income increased by 150% to £2.3m, which it said reflected increased cash balances and bank base rate increases.

Revenue market share excluding interest fell to 3.78% from 4.03%, with assets under administration rising 3% to £4.9bn.

The company’s earnings returned to positive territory, as it swing to EBITDA of £0.5m from LBITDA of £0.4m a year earlier.

Operating losses narrowed by 60% to £0.3m from £0.8m, with the firm making an operating profit of £0.2m in the second half.

Its reported loss before tax was £0.02m, compared to a profit of £0.4m a year earlier, which included a one-off item of £0.9m.

Underlying earnings increased to £0.6m from £0.4m, with underlying basic and diluted earnings per share rising to 0.4p from 0.3p.

Reported basic and diluted earnings per share of were 0.0p, down from 0.2p.

The Share board said its balance sheet remained “strong”, with cash of £9.0m down from £10.5m year-on-year, and equity investments rising to £8.4m from £6.4m.

Shareholders' funds totalled £19.5m, or 13.5p per share, both up from £18.2m or 12.7p per share a year earlier.

The board proposed a final and total dividend of 0.55p per share, up 37% from the 0.40p per share distribution in 2017.

“Share made strong strategic and operational progress in 2018, achieving some important milestones with its digital transformation programme and other growth initiatives,” said chairman Gavin Oldham.

“Despite the difficult trading backdrop in the second half of the year, revenue reached a new high of £21.0m, up 12% year-on-year, partly reflecting the increase in our customer base.

“As expected, the group also returned to headline operating profit in the second half.”

Oldham said the firm had started 2019 in “good shape”, having now completed a major part of its digital transformation programme and with customer accounts at a higher level than at the same point last year.

“We also have a healthy pipeline of partnership opportunities and are taking a leading role in re-awakening the Child Trust Fund, as a key part of our egalitarian capitalism programme.

“We therefore believe that Share is well-positioned to continue to grow and develop for the long term and to navigate the continuing near term challenges.”