Bell Financial increases dividend
Bell Financial Group has increased its dividend to two cents per share after its first half net profit improved to $5.9 million, from $5.7 million last year, thanks to the strong performance of its retail business which benefitted from the recent addition of new advisers.
At the same time, the funds under advice (FUA) including margin lending and cash business reached near record levels while portfolio administration platform business saw an increase in assets by over $500 million over the past 12 months to $2.9 billion.
The company also said that evenues in the Bell Direct business continued to grow and increased 16 per cent, counting year-on-year.
Bell’s executive chairman, Colin Bell said: “Trading conditions were somewhat mixed as markets tracked sideways for much of the period, therefore it is pleasing that we have been able to slightly improve on last year’s first half profit, and in turn increase the interim dividend payment from 1.75 cents to two cents per share this half.
“While conditions were a little more difficult for the wholesale business, there remains a strong pipeline of potential transactions that we expect will complete in the second half of the year should market conditions allow.”
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