Charles Stanley is aiming to tighten up as it hits the black

Broker Charles Stanley pledged to close the productivity gap on well-heeled rivals after swinging into the black for the first time in three years.

The £24 billion group, which was founded in 1792 when King George III was on the throne, plans to make the group hum by pushing fund managers and salespeople to be more efficient and slashing non-staff costs.

Stanley’s reported pre-tax margin is 6%, well behind peers Brewin Dolphin, Brooks Macdonald and Rathbones, who collectively have a 24% margin.

“There’s quite a bit of margin to be extracted,” said chief executive Paul Abberley. “The foundations are in place but the transformation is still very much a work in progress.” Abberley said the smaller size of the company and different mix of products was also a factor in the lower margins.

Pre-tax profits were £8.8 million, reversing a £300,000 loss last year. The dividend was boosted by 20% to 6p.

Funds under management rose by 17.1% to £24 billion. Abberley said that he was unfazed by the political turmoil, which has been shrugged off by markets.

“We are quite relaxed about the political picture in the UK. Despite the gyrations in the political landscape, the underlying global economic outlook feels a bit more underpinned than it did 18 months ago,” he said.