Brewin Dolphin, the wealth management group, increased the dividend yesterday after revealing that it had won £1 billion in new mandates from wealthy clients by poaching teams from rival firms.

Funds under management fell from £21.6 billion to £18.7 billion because of falling share values. The decline would have been greater if it had not convinced clients to defect from other brokers.

Brewin hired 21 new teams, comprising 86 people, in the course of the year. Its Nottingham office picked up 24 staff from Barclays Wealth. While there are temporary restrictions on wealth managers who jump ship preventing them from contacting past clients, these expire and old clients often defect.

Brewin has abandoned the old practice of buying entire firms, preferring the cheaper option of wooing their star salespeople and teams.

Brewin, which has a £50 million cash pile, lifted the final divided 1.4per cent to 3.55p, making a total payout of 7.1p, up 3.3 per cent.

Jamie Matheson, executive chairman, said it was a relatively resilient performance considering the difficult and volatile trading conditions. Profits before tax fell from £41.7 million to £36.2 million for the year to September 28.

While the main wealth management division was resilient, the corporate broking and equity trading division suffered a 93 per cent collapse in operating profits.

Mr Matheson said it was “a tough time for clients”, but most were highly experienced long-term investors used to the ups and downs of the market. The FTSE 100 fell 21.3 per cent in the course of the year, while funds under management fell 13.4 per cent.

Brewin owns the Wise Speke brand, which has been phased out, and Bell Lawrie, which is going too.

Jobs are being cut this week at JPMorgan Cazenove, the corporate broker. Fewer than 20 staff are expected to go in the wake of the annual appraisal process. The broker is sacking underperformers and slimming down some teams in expectation of thinner volumes next year.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive