Misys to float network of independent financial advisors

The software group Misys yesterday sketched out plans to float its network of independent financial advisers on the stock market over the next two years as it reported a 17.6 per cent fall in profits.

The business to be floated will include Misys's five IFA networks – Countrywide, DBS, Financial Options, IFA Network and Kestrel – as well as a range of related software products. In addition, the group painted a rosier picture for its core banking division, which sells software to financial organisations, saying its trading performance should improve. Shares in Misys closed up 22 per cent, or 39p, at 220p.

The move came as Misys announced an expected drop in adjusted pre-tax profits in the year to 31 May to £112m from £136m on sales of £1bn, up from £859m. Profits at its banking division slumped to £63m from £90m.

"The strength and diversity of the group's three main businesses mitigated, to a large extent, the adverse effects over the last financial year of the worst economic conditions that the group has faced for over a decade," its chairman, Kevin Lomax, said.

This year, he said the company should make "good progress towards achieving its continuing objective of sustainable mid-teens growth".

Mr Lomax said the flotation of the company's IFA business would not happen until equity markets had stabilised and until proposed regulatory changes have been finalised. "We now believe that the [IFA] business is of a size and at a stage in its development where it would benefit from having an independent future," he said.

Analysts at UBS Warburg viewed the planned demerger "positively". "We have believed for some time that more value is contained within Misys than is reflected in the share price, and would expect any such corporate developments to enhance shareholder value," they said.