Rathbone Brothers 1st Half Pretax Profit +11%; Confident Of 2nd Half Growth

U.K. fund manager Rathbone Brothers PLC (RAT.LN) Wednesday posted an 11% rise in first-half pretax profit and said that while market volatility experienced in the first half is likely to continue for the rest of this year, it is confident of further growth.

For the six months to June 30, Rathbone posted pretax profit of GBP15.8 million, compared with GBP14.2 million in the same period a year earlier.

Total funds under management increased 1.5% from Dec. 31, to GBP13.1 billion, which was helped by a deal to take on the rich clients of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN).

Rathbone acquired GBP1.27 billion of funds under management from Bank of Scotland in October 2009 and also agreed to act as investment manager to clients of Bank of Scotland and parent Lloyds.

The firm, which has been managing funds for private investors for over 100 years, said Rathbone Unit Trust Management's funds under management fell to GBP877 million at June 30, down from GBP935 million at Dec. 31, although net redemptions of GBP41 million in the first half were down from the GBP180 million level reported last year.

-By Rachael Gormley, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9308; [e-mail]

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