Leopold Joseph lifts profits and payout
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.LEOPOLD JOSEPH, the small London merchant bank that caters for the rich, boosted annual profits by 43 per cent last year.
Leopold increased profits after tax and a transfer from inner reserves to pounds 1.6m in the year to 31 March, up from pounds 1.1m in the previous year. The second-half dividend was raised by 6 per cent to 13.5p, bringing the dividend for the year to 16.6p against 15.85p in 1992.
Robin Herbert, chairman, said the result reflected a strong performance in core activities - banking, treasury, investment, corporate finance and an offshore Guernsey banking subsidiary - and the outlook was excellent.
'Banking led very strongly. It was a combination of wide margins and the competition being weaker,' Mr Herbert said. 'Big banks have been very cautious in lending and there's a lot of banking business around now, both in money transmission and in lending.'
Leopold's account holders are high-net-worth individuals with an international profile and include Lloyd's names. But Mr Herbert said the bank had a low-risk role in Lloyd's, profitably transmitting money in and out of the insurance market.
The bank's turnover was higher in banking, where deposit-taking and lending both increased, and in treasury operations, which benefited from greater currency volatility after the Government's decision to leave the European exchange rate mechanism in September.
The bank did not reveal its bad debt provisions but the chairman said the lending book had performed extremely well. 'Provisions have been very modest.' The loan portfolio grew as a result of attractive opportunities, and trade finance business is also expanding.
The balance sheet total was little changed from the previous year at pounds 261m. The shares closed unchanged at 358p.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments