Class investment boosts Countplus bottom line

In a statement to the ASX yesterday, Countplus said the increase was due to the fair value gain on its investment in Class of $4.73 million (after tax), which was partially offset by a $1 million impairment expense and a higher tax expense of $890,000 relating to the tax deconsolidation of three member firms under its direct equity plan (firm buyback).

Profit attributable to the owners of Countplus sat at $5.99 million (down 1 per cent) due to the completion of the three member firm buybacks.

Countplus also reported a half-year consolidated net profit before tax of $10.66 million (up 22 per cent) and declared its third quarterly dividend for 2015–16 of 2 cents per share, fully franked, payable on 16 May 2016.

Despite the boost, the company's results reflect continued challenging conditions in the accounting/business services area, with net revenue down 2.9 per cent.

"Our first-half results are down due to higher provisioning charges, non-recurring cost relating to ADVICE389 and BLUE789 and an impairment of one of our smaller accounting businesses. Non-accounting businesses performed relatively stronger," Countplus said.

"Financial planning is continuing to see growth (up 5.4 per cent) across member firms and the group's largest firm, Total Financial Solutions, is benefitting from the impact of new firms joining their network over the last two years."