Curtis Banks profit up but SIPPs down; Will Self to be new CEO

AIM-listed financial services company Curtis Banks posted a 17% rise in interim pre-tax profit on Thursday as operating revenue grew but the number of new SIPPs in the period fell.

In the six months to 30 June, pre-tax profit rose to £4.8m from £4.1m in the first half of 2017, with operating revenue up 7.5% to £23m and assets under administration 9% higher at £25.1bn.

However, the number of new SIPPs declined to 3,512 from 4,534, with the company attributing the drop to a number of industry-wide factors. It said there has been a widely acknowledged slowdown in new pension transfers largely considered to be caused by the wider economic uncertainty.

More specifically, Curtis has seen some advisers retrench from the pension transfer sector where elements of their business were exposed to defined benefit transfers as well as increased regulatory scrutiny of all regulated transfer activities.

Chief executive officer Rupert Curtis said: "We made good progress during the first half of the year and these results show encouraging growth in profits during a period in which we concentrated on completing our consolidation activities and preparing the launch of our new SIPP proposition.

"We have focused on further investment in the business to support continued organic growth and build on our position as the UK's largest dedicated SIPP provider. This has involved developing a new sales team and a new SIPP proposition, both of which will be operating in the second half of this year."

The company also announced that Wilf Self will take over from Rupert Curtis in January 2019. Deputy CEO Self has been a member of the board since 2016, having worked in the sector for more than 15 years.

At 1525 BST, the shares were down 0.7% to 281.90p.