Stockbroking firm Hartleys has joined most of its industry peers in recording a bumper profit increase for the year to June 2011, a result that is unlikely to be matched in the current financial year.
Hartleys lifted its annual net profit by 82 per cent to $17.6 million, according to accounts lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
Total revenue was up 46 per cent to $72.8 million.
The star performer was its corporate finance division, which increased its market share in both resources M&A activity and equity capital raisings, according to surveys undertaken by WA Business News.
The firm’s revenue from “corporate equity capital fees” nearly doubled to $43.5 million, while brokerage revenue ($23.9 million) and portfolio management fees ($5.4 million) had modest growth.
Hartleys profit report followed large profit increases by listed stockbroker Euroz and another local firm Argonaut, which announced its results in July.
Euroz reported a 58 per cent increase in its normalised after-tax profit to $25.6 million while Argonaut achieved a 53 per cent jump in its underlying pre-tax profit to $12.3 million.
Their performance outstripped the reported profit of Perth’s largest stockbroker Patersons.
Its profit for the year slumped by 13 per cent to $5.9 million.
See next week’s edition of WA Business News for a detailed analysis of the performance of Perth’s major stockbrokers.