Charles Stanley revenues rise

The private client and corporate stockbroker Charles Stanley said yesterday that share trading volumes in London have stabilised, albeit at the reduced levels they crashed to a year ago.

The broker said revenues in its third quarter to December had shot up by 13.5 per cent to £31.1m, but it pointed out that the comparison was with the period from October to December 2011, when share trading collapsed as investors fretted over the eurozone and the global economy.

A more realistic picture is shown by the fact that for the nine months to December revenues are up only 3.4 per cent on the same period in 2011. Over the last three months the value of funds under management rose by 4.6 per cent to £16.36bn, and the most profitable discretionary funds part of this was up by 7.1 per cent to £5.73bn. That compares with a 2.7 per cent rise in the FTSE 100.

Sir David Howard, the chairman, said: "We are confident that our broadly based business mix and financial strength will allow us to continue to produce a creditable performance."