Mortgage Advice Bureau suffers with UK property but adjusted profit up

Mortgage Advice Bureau Holdings PLC on Tuesday said pretax profit was hurt by one-off acquisition and stock-market listing costs in the first half of 2026, but adjusted profit rose slightly despite a weak UK property market and investment in head-office costs.

The Derby, England-based mortgage broker said pretax profit was £6.2 million in the six months that ended June 30, down 36% from £9.6 million a year before, despite revenue rising 8.6% to £161.0 million from £148.2 million.

Exceptional costs related to Mortgage Advice Bureau's acquisition in March of Home Loan Services (Glasgow) Ltd and in April of London-based property advice platform HomeOwners Alliance Ltd, as well as the switching of the company's listing in May to the London Main Market from AIM. Head office costs rose by 10% as the company invested in people and infrastructure for medium-term growth.

Adjusted pretax profit was £14.8 million in the recent half-year, up 2.1% from £14.5 million a year before.

Mortgage Advice Bureau declared a 7.9 pence per share interim dividend, up 9.7% from 7.2p a year before.

Earlier in September, the company lowered its 2026 guidance, citing a weaker UK housing market and fewer potential customers feeding into its Fluent division. Mortgage Advice Bureau had said it expects adjusted pretax profit for 2026 of around £38.0 million, below market consensus at the time of £43.4 million. This would still represent a 4.7% increase compared with £36.3 million in 2025.

The downgrade was attributed to Fluent, the company's telephone advice mortgage broking platform. It previously expected a significant increase in new sales lead flows into Fluent this year. As well, the UK mortgage market weakened in July and August, the company said.

On Tuesday, Mortgage Advice Bureau said it is trading in line with those revised expectations for about a 5% rise in adjusted pretax profit.

While the reduced guidance was "disappointing", Founder & Chief Executive Peter Brodnicki said, the continued profit rise showed "the robustness of our business model against a challenging market backdrop".

Mortgage Advice Bureau shares were up 0.7% to 385.50 pence on Tuesday morning in London.

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