Share swings to a loss as 'regulatory changes' offsets revenue growth

Independent retail stockbroker Share swung to a loss in the first half of its trading year as improved revenues were offset by increased transaction costs.

Pre-tax losses came to £27,000, a 466% drop from the £75,000 profit the group turned in a year earlier.

Revenues jumped 15% to £10.2m, however, an 18% increase in costs, something Share blamed on "regulatory changes", more-than offset any improvement seen elsewhere.

On a more positive note, assets under administration rose 18% to a record £5bn and Share's balance sheet remained steady at £17.9m.

Despite the loss, chief executive Richard Stone seemed to think Share's results showed "the positive progress" made by the business.

"The first half of 2018 was challenging in terms of the changes required to accommodate new regulations, principally MiFID II and GDPR," he said.

"We have taken steps to mitigate this and we expect the benefit of these commercial changes, which took effect in July, to have a positive impact on the second half financials," Stone added.

Elsewhere, Share announced that it had reached an agreement with the Special Administrator of Beaufort Securities to acquire roughly 38,000 customer accounts and over £1.5bn of assets under administration.

"Looking ahead, the future remains bright and we have plans to substantially increase the scale of the business, both organically and through acquisitions and partnerships. The board continues to be encouraged by progress and looks forward positively to the rest of this financial year and beyond," Stone concluded.

Share stock was down 0.77% to 25.80p.