Tavistock Investments PLC shares were lifted on Monday as it praised its ‘most successful year’ in history in its end-of-year report.

The Bracknell, England-based investment manager’s pretax profit surged to £30.0 million in the financial year to March 31 from £949,000 the year before. This stemmed from the £40 million disposal of Tavistock Wealth to Titan Wealth back in August 2021.

The initial proceeds from the Tavistock Wealth disposal enabled the company to repay all bank borrowings.

The company also paid an interim dividend of 0.05 pence per share - five times larger than its maiden payout in 2019 - and paid a further dividend of 0.07p per share in July.

Revenue increased 18% to £34 million, up from £29 million the year before. This was particularly driven by a strong performance from its advisory business in which revenue grew 35% to £31.3 million from £23.2 million the year before.

Shares in Tavistock Investments were trading 10% higher at 8.25p each in London on Monday morning.

The average revenue contribution per adviser was improved by 22%, from £176,000 in 2021 to £210,000 in 2022.

The remainder of the company’s revenue comes from its investment management business.

Earnings per share significantly increased to 5.02 pence from 0.13p the year before. The company’s buy-back and cancellation of around 50 million of its own shares contributed to the growth in the earnings per share of those shares remaining in issue.

Going forward the company is focused on increasing scale through continued organic growth and ‘selective acquisitions’ while curtailing ‘unprofitable projects’. Additionally, it is aiming to enter ‘formal stakeholder arrangements’ with firms from the company’s representative network.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Raven said: ‘The past financial year has been our most successful and demonstrates the strength and further growth potential in the business. With substantial cash resources, and a further £20 million receivable from Titan, the company is well placed to enter the next stage of its development.

‘We aim to continue the rapid expansion of our advisory business and accelerate the growth of investment management assets. We continue to assess and engage with potential acquisition targets, alongside our focus on sustained organic growth, to ensure we deliver enhanced value to shareholders.’

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