Troubled wealth manager and Financial Planner WH Ireland has reported saw bigger losses and a sharp drop in revenue in interim results out today.

The City of London-based firm saw a major board shake-up in November after a £5m rescue deal thrashed out in the summer saved the company from being wound up.

The firm said half year revenue had declined by £3.6m year on year from £14.3m last year (H1 2022) to £10.7m this year (H1 2023, ending 30 September).

The wealth management division saw profits slide from £7.3m in H1 2022 to £6.3m.

Underlying pre-tax losses for the company doubled from £0.9m to £1.8m. Statutory loss before tax was £3.9m (H1 2022: £0.4m, including non-recurring costs of £1.7m).

Despite the losses the firm’s cash balanced remained relatively stable at £6.9m, up from £6.3m, thanks to a £5m fund raising in the summer.

Since last year the company has cut its workforce by 45 from 156 to 111 as it strives to cut costs. It is continuing to streamline its operation, it said, as it seeks to turn the corner.

The firm said there had also been a “substantial cost reduction exercise completed post half year end” with £3.8m in annualised cost savings expected to aid financial performance. It expects to see the benefits of the cost cutting by its second half of the current financial year.

The company said that market conditions were challenging but there were some signs of greater stability.

WH Ireland CEO Phillip Wale said: "WH Ireland's interim results reflect both the well documented challenging market backdrop, as well as the impact of the non-recurring costs incurred in streamlining the business after the refinancing in the summer.  

“Market conditions, while remaining challenging, have shown some tentative signs of improvement in both indices and activity levels since November; enabling us to undertake some of our largest fundraisings for many months across both public and private markets. WH Ireland is now in a stronger financial position as a result of the delivery of our cost efficiency programme and it was pleasing to see the business deliver underlying monthly profitability (unaudited) in November 2023."