Charles Stanley swings to full-year loss

Broker Charles Stanley swung to a full-year pre-tax loss following a year of substantial changes at the company.For the period ended 31 March 2015, it posted a pre-tax loss of £6.1m, compared with a profit of £6.1m in 2014, as revenue rose 1% to £149.7m from £149m.The dividend per share fell to 5p from 12.25p the previous year and the board is now recommending a final dividend of 2p, down from last year's 9.25p.Chief executive officer Paul Abberley said: "The past year has been one of substantial change for Charles Stanley. Whilst several of the underlying elements of the results give cause for encouragement, the overall result leaves significant room for improvement."Throughout the year, management and client-facing investment teams were engaged in a major overhaul that involved the upgrading of systems and record-keeping to meet the rising regulatory expectations across the financial services sector. This led to a substantial re-modelling of the interface with its extensive client base, which is moving forward on schedule to completion very shortly, the company said."The decline in our profitability is essentially due to a combination of the rising costs associated with these changes, and, to an extent, the inevitable diversion of focus from business generation. But the upside is that we firmly believe that we have built a stronger base to take our business forward," said Charles Stanley.At 09:55, shares were down 1.2% at 387.32p.