Quilter PLC (LON:QLT) shares rose 2.3% on Wednesday after the wealth manager said in its maiden results that its assets under management had risen 2% this year and that it would return £221mln to shareholders through a special dividend.
The company, which was spun out of Old Mutual earlier this year, said its assets under management rose to £116.5bn in the six months to the end of June, with net inflows of £2.2bn. This helped the firm deliver a 16% rise in adjusted pretax profit to £110mln from the same period a year ago.
Following the sale of its strategy business as part of the Old Mutual spin-off, Quilter said it would return £221mln to investors through a special dividend of 12p per share.
“Our market offers significant growth opportunities and, while we have built a leading wealth management business, we are some way from demonstrating its full potential,” Quilter CEO Paul Feeney said. “Our priority now is to optimise the way we work to maximise the value of our integrated business for all our stakeholders over the coming years."
UBS analysts said Quilter had made a “solid start” to life as a listed company, while analysts at Numis said the results reflected a “mixed picture” but that the special dividend handout was ahead of its expectations.