By Yamini Kalia
(Reuters) -British wealth manager Quilter on Wednesday beat annual profit expectations and set aside a smaller-than-expected 76 million pound ($97 million) cost provision for its ongoing advice review, lifting shares nearly 9%.
The company has been reviewing its historical services to customers amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of charging by fund managers. The final report on the review is expected to be submitted to the UK regulator by the second quarter.
“The company has a strong enough balance sheet to absorb the provision,” said James Allen of Panmure Liberum, who had expected a 115 million-pound impact.
Quilter shares rose as much as 8.6% to 164 pence. They have climbed about 57% in the last 12 months.
The firm’s 2024 adjusted pre-tax profit came in at 196 million pounds, 17% higher than a year before and ahead of the 188 million pounds expected by analysts, as per a company-compiled poll.
“In the long term, we should be able to have double-digit growth,” Quilter CEO Steven Levin told Reuters, adding that the firm plans to ramp up its investments in the current year.
Quilter expects to report a mid to high single-digit increase in adjusted profit for 2025, based on its expectations of an underlying cost base of about 500 million pounds.
Investec analyst Rahim Karim said he expected investors to welcome the better-than-expected 2024 results, which he said “appear to imply upgrades” for 2025 expectations.
($1 = 0.7809 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Jan Harvey)
