Brewin Dolphin’s profits have taken a substantial hit this year because of the costs incurred in abandoning a proposed new IT operating system.
The discretionary manager’s profit before tax fell by 70 per cent in the past year, from £28.4m in 2013 to £8.6m in the 12 months to the end of September.
The main hit to Brewin Dolphin’s profit was its previously announced decision to abandon an extensive new operating system midway through development, which led to a £33.7m writedown.
When exceptional items, such as the IT writedown and other restructuring costs, are discounted the company’s underlying profit rose by 16 per cent to £60.2m in the past year.
Its discretionary funds under management (FUM) increased by 13 per cent to £24bn.
Excluding investment performance, Brewin Dolphin said it had seen 7 per cent FUM growth just from new inflows, which it said came mainly from financial advisers outsourcing business.
