Investing for growth
Just as Share Plc (LON:SHRE) aims to provide retail investors with an accessible platform to invest for the future, so the company is this year engaging in a significant investment in IT to enable it to meet future customer requirements and secure its own ability to benefit from the prospective growth in the population of self-directed investors. This is set to hold back profitability in 2016, but should provide the platform for longer-term growth. Supporting the investment, at the year-end Share had no debt, cash of nearly £12m and capital 3.6 times the FCA requirement.
Keeping focus on customer service
2015 proved to be a challenging year for stock market investors and hence for activity levels for Share. Nevertheless, excluding interest income, which continues to shrink under the twin pressures of regulatory change and lower rates, revenue was only down 3%. Market share (revenue) in a ComPeer-collected peer group was at a record 7.79% versus 7.66% for 2014. The company has kept its eye on customer service, winning further awards on the back of this and garnering predominantly positive feedback on Trustpilot (score 8.8), for example. To maintain this key strategic focus, the company has announced it is this year embarking on an important programme of investment in IT to support new functionality on its website and innovation in engagement with customers. While this will affect the P&L this year, it should underpin longer-term growth prospects. (See page 2 for commentary on FY15 results).
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