Stake sale boosts Evolution to £31m
A HANDY £22.3m profit on the sale of part of its stake in IP2IPO helped push first-half profits at the niche investment bank Evolution up from £13.9m to £31.4m in the six months to end-June.
There was considerable growth in revenues as its investment banking operations made a strong start to 2004 and funds under management rose by 65%.
The company is paying an interim dividend of 0.17p. There was no interim last year.
Earnings per share came in at 13.6p against a loss of 0.6p the previous year.
Chairman Richard Griffiths said: 'Following an excellent start to the year, the board remains confident of the future prospects for the group.'
Evolution said its corporate broking track record for the first half has continued to progress strongly. The total £370m raised in the eight months to August already significantly exceeds the total £271m funds raised in 2003.
On its Private Client Stockbroking and Fund Management, the company said total income has increased in line with its growth plans and the business' operating profit in the first half is in excess of the full year in 2003.
At end June, total funds under management were £588m, up from £356 mln at the same time last year.
