Regulatory News

Half Year Results for the six months ended 31 May 2012

WH Ireland (AIM: WHI), the financial services group serving the private client and smaller company market, today announces its half year results for the six months ended 31 May 2012.

• Group turnover increased 10.5% on same period last year to £12.60m (half year ended 31 May 2011: £11.41m)
• Profit before tax for the half year ended 31 May 2012 of £0.19m (half year ended 31 May 2011: £0.71m)
• Adjusted profit before tax* for the half year ended 31 May 2012 of £0.49m (half year ended 31 May 2011: £1.51m)
• Basic earnings per share of 0.81p for the period (half year ended 31 May 2011: 2.35p)
• Adjusted basic earnings per share* for the period of 2.12p (half year ended 31 May 2011: 6.15p)
• Total equity of £12.56m up £0.56m from year end (30 November 2011: £12.00m)
• The Corporate Broking team has won 13 new corporate clients during the period
• The Private Wealth Management team acquired the client base and non-cash client assets of Pritchard Stockbrokers Limited in February 2012
• Total funds under management and control of £1.55bn up 14.1% from year end (30 November 2011: £1.36bn)

*Adjusted figures are stated before impairments of £0.07m (31 May 2011: £0.49m), share based payments of £0.24m (31 May 2011: £0.03m) and loss on disposal of associates of £nil (31 May 2011: £0.28m).

Rupert Lowe, Chairman of WH Ireland, commented: "The Board is pleased to announce that the Group has continued to make considerable progress over the last six months despite ongoing challenging market conditions. In Corporate Broking we have increased client numbers and head count and in Private Wealth Management the acquisition and integration of the client base of Pritchard Stockbrokers has now been successfully completed. Whilst the transaction with Pritchard and key hires made during the period have meant that the Group has incurred increased costs, the Board believes that WH Ireland is now ideally placed for the next phase of its growth.

"This is a challenging time for the Group, but the Board is confident that with the strong team and market position that it is working to develop, WH Ireland can continue to build on this momentum."

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