Bell Financial Group has announced a half-year net profit after tax (NPAT) of $9.3 million, a 44 per cent decline on the prior corresponding period.
In its results for the six months to 30 June, the firm said statutory NPAT had fallen from $16.6 million in the first half of 2024 to $9.3 million.
Funds under advice were $87.3 billion, up from $80.5 billion in the first half of 2024, across more than 300 advisers, but revenue declined from $138.7 million to $121.5 million.
Bell is broken down into three divisions: retail and institutional broking via Bell Potter Securities, products and services via Bell Potter Capital, and a technology and platform arm including Bell Direct and Desktop Broker.
It noted its technology & platforms and product & services division had a combined revenue of $46.3 million, a rise of 12 per cent. However, revenue from its retail and institutional broking division was down 23.5 per cent to $69.4 million as a result of global market volatility, which led the division to report a loss of $2.8 million compared to a $6.3 million profit in the previous period.
Bell Financial Group co-chief executive, Dean Davenport, said: “Growth in the recurring revenue divisions remains strong, and is set to continue as we transform into a more diversified wealth management business with multiple, scalable revenue streams. The goal is to create a stronger, more resilient business that continues growing through all phases of the market cycle.”
In July, Bell announced a partnership with platform Praemium to create a wealth management platform for Bell Potter Retail which will provide it with the opportunity to convert transactional brokerage into fee-based revenue.
Bell Potter will now use Praemium’s Scope+ administration solution to administer over 2,200 client portfolios.
Its in-house platform already manages $6 billion in client assets, and it said more than one-third of clients hold more than 50 per cent of their portfolio outside of the firm which presents an addressable market greater than $80 billion.
“We expect over time this will result in fee-based revenue and earnings growth as a wider stream of assets are managed on the platform,” it said.
“Revenue growth across our technology & platforms and products & services divisions clearly demonstrates the benefits of the group’s strategy to develop and grow recurring and maintainable revenue streams that complement and leverage the scale of our traditional broking business.”
The board declared a fully franked interim dividend of 3¢ per share.
