The head of Brewin Dolphin's Norwich office today hailed the group's first half results which showed increased income and profits.

The investment management and financial planning firm, which has 39 UK offices announced total incomes of £146.3m (up 5.3pc from £139m in March 2013), and pre-tax profits of £21.4m (up from £6.8m in 2013).

Its adjusted profit before tax margin (PBT) also increased to 20.3pc from 17.1pc.

The board announced an adjusted earnings per share of 9.1p compared to 7.5p - an increase of 21.3pc and an interim dividend of 3.65 pence per share.

Richard Larner, head of Brewin Dolphin Norwich said: 'These results show a step change in our performance within an improving economic backdrop, they also reflect the opportunities open to us in Norwich as the demand for professional and trusted wealth management advice grows. This trend has been accelerated by the recent budget, which put in place a strategy to modernise pensions and savings and which was warmly welcomed by us and our clients.'

David Nicol, Chief Executive said: 'The group has made good financial and operational progress over the first half of 2014. The process of streamlining the business is on track and this is reflected in the significant progress made towards the adjusted profit before tax margin target of 25pc. It is encouraging to see the rationalisation of the business model begin to bear fruit as organic growth is achieved.

'We are committed to continued improvement and strengthening of the business and will continue to make the difficult decisions necessary to achieve this as evidenced by the refocused systems priorities. The streamlining of the business through improved operating processes and clearer focus on core services should not only secure further shareholder returns, but also substantially reduce risk.'