Rathbones H1 underlying profits dip, announces £50m share buyback
Wealth manager Rathbones Group said on Wednesday that H1 profits and margins had dipped, with net outflows and market volatility weighing on performance.
Rathbones said underlying pre-tax profits had slipped 4% to £107.7m, while operating margins narrowed to 24.0% from 25.1%. Net outflows totalled £1.0bn, driven by client migration linked to the recent Investec Wealth & Investment integration, though flows improved markedly in Q2, reducing to £200m.
Funds under management and administration held steady at £109.0bn, supported by positive market performance, while statutory pre-tax profits fell to £62.3m, impacted by £45.4m in amortisation and integration costs.
Despite the softer start to FY25, Rathbones reaffirmed its FY guidance, supported by a stronger starting funds under management position in H2 and increasing synergy benefits, and announced its first-ever share buyback of up to £50m, alongside a 3.3% dividend hike to 31.0p per share.
CEO Paul Stockton said: "These results mark a turning point since the combination and enable the business to shift its focus from migration to the future opportunity ahead. Rathbones enters the second half of 2025 in a position of financial strength. We maintain our progressive dividend policy, and announce today our intention to return surplus capital to shareholders through our first-ever share buyback of up to £50.0m."
As of 0925 BST, Rathbones shares were up 0.75% at 1,878.00p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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