Euroz Hartleys Group Limited ('Euroz Hartleys') reports a much improved third quarter and overall solid profitability for the nine months to 31 March 2023.

Euroz Hartleys is Western Australia's leading private wealth, institutional and corporate finance and funds management business. We remind investors that the previously announced first half net profit after tax of $3.1 million represented a particularly challenging half in markets. We can now report a much improved third quarter with net profit after tax (unaudited and attributable to members) of approximately $4.4 million for this quarter.

This represents total net profit after tax of $7.5 million for the nine months to 31 March 2023. The Directors also note that this result is difficult to compare with the previous nine-month net profit after tax of $26.4 million (down 71%) as this previous period included $14.9 million of profit related to our Westoz and Ozgrowth investments which have since been unwound. We are very pleased with the third quarter performance of our underlying business during this inflection point in markets which continued to be affected by rising interest rates and inflationary concerns.

The past quarter saw improved relative performance from our wholesale business in particular and reflects a lot of the hard work and change that has been implemented in recent times. Equity Capital Market (ECM) raisings during the March quarter of $612 million were particularly strong as demonstrated by our Number 6 national ranking1 in capital raised for this period. Advisory revenues for the March quarter were also strong while brokerage revenues remained somewhat subdued. We remain focused on increasing our proportion of recurring revenues and can report a modest increase in Funds Under Management (FUM) to $3.4 billion. Our team has spent considerable time and effort in developing new strategies to drive FUM growth and consolidate our wealth offering. We believe the benefits of this complex work will become evident over time.

Euroz Hartleys Executive Chairman, Andrew McKenzie commented: 'We are pleased with the improved performance of our business during the March quarter despite a continuing difficult market. We strongly believe that we have a much-improved business, team focus and market position. On a relative basis we feel that we enjoyed a good quarter while market volumes and activity for our competitors remained under pressure. The benefits of some purposeful changes to our wholesale team and succession initiatives are now starting to be seen in these improved revenues and profits

Our people are what ultimately drives our success. Our significant reinvestment into our team and our culture will help to ensure growth and resilience in all aspects of our Euroz Hartleys business going forward. The best measure of a strong business is of course the payment of dividends and we are proud that we have now returned $331.6 million in fully franked dividends and $40 million of capital to shareholders across our 23-year history.'

Our current balance sheet of $97.1 million of cash and investments continues to support our activities, differentiates us from many of our competitors and provides confidence to our significant adviser network and their extensive client base. Euroz Hartleys has an excellent track record of counter cyclical and well executed acquisitions in a financial landscape that continues to evolve and we remain interested in further broking, wealth management and adviser specific acquisitions. We remind investors that our full year performance and final dividend will be dependent on market sentiment, commodity prices, Equity Capital Markets and corporate advisory activity for the remainder of the year

Contact:

Tel: 0438755727

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