Sales were 29 per cent higher at pounds 22.8m. Zotefoams specialises in the manufacture of foam used in toys, helmets and packaging and has been buoyed by growth in its main markets of Europe and North America.Sales to the toy market have grown by 18 per cent thanks largely to the success of its three-dimensional foam jigsaw puzzles. Floated at 145p last February, the shares have doubled after finishing a further 9p ahead yesterday at 290p. The market warmed to the group's first set of full results showing pre-tax profits 41 per cent ahead at pounds 7.6m in the year to December. Not expensive and the group's 40,000 clients are a valuable asset, but the controlling stake held by staff and associates means the market is thin..

Zotefoams, the speciality foam maker which used to be part of BP, has been one of the best new issues of last year. Within that, discretionary funds have grown a third to pounds 1.2bn and a further pounds 100m will come aboard with the imminent purchase of James Finlay Investment Management in Glasgow.All this has proved a drag on profits, but house brokers Panmure Gordon believe Brewin is capable of pounds 5.3m in the current year, putting the shares, up 4p at 155p, on a forward rating of 9. The main contributors to the results were new offices purchased in Lymington, on the south coast, and at Marlborough.The head count has risen from around 420 to over 500 in the space of a year, while funds under management are up 24 per cent to pounds 6.2bn. It has developed a reputation as a poacher, with teams defecting from rivals Quilter Goodison in Jersey and Allied Provincial's Birmingham office and, more litigiously, its Glasgow branch since June. Like-for-like operating profits fell from pounds 3.35m to pounds 2.79m.The group's confidence is reflected in the 17 per cent increase in the dividend to 7p and, to be fair, Brewin is expanding rapidly.

A "quiet" first quarter for the market last year cut half-way profits by just over a fifth. Full-year profits out yesterday show Brewin has only made up the shortfall in the full year by dint of acquisitions. Pre-tax profits rose marginally to pounds 4.21m from pounds 4.03m and even that small increase was only possible through the addition of new offices, which added pounds 540,000 to these figures. This underperformance at a time when the stock market has been booming is partly a reflection of the group's own poor results. Private investors hoping to get a share of the spoils enjoyed by the people who advise them will have been disappointed by the performance of Brewin Dolphin to date. One of the largest private client stockbrokers in the UK, shares in the group have barely peeped above the 150p at which they were placed last June. Meanwhile, in the UK, the banks will be a prime target for any windfall tax imposed by a future Labour government.Assuming profits hit Morgan Stanley's forecast of pounds 4.1bn this year, the shares, down 16p at pounds 10.56, look reasonable value on trading grounds on a prospective multiple of 10 But the risks remain.. The problems all arise on the political front.Of these, Hong Kong plainly looms the largest.