The company has announced a net profit of $3.7 million for the 12 months to 30 June 2014, which is down 23 per cent on 2012/2013’s profit.
But encouragingly for Mr Deverall, there are signs that the poor results may be coming to an end.
This year’s result is an improvement on the 2012/2013 profit announcement which was down 32 per cent on the previous year, and 2012/2013 was an improvement on 2011/2012’s 42 per cent slump.
Since he was appointed by the company in August 2012 to arrest Hunter Hall’s slide, Mr Deverall has put in place a three-pronged strategy to bring the company back to profitability.
“We’re getting on board a really good team of people, we’re managing the volatility of the funds in a better way, and we’re managing our cost base,” he told InvestorDaily.
Mr Deverall's appointment followed a number of high-profile departures from the company's investment team, including chief investment officer Jack Lowenstein in late 2011 and chief executive David Buckland in April 2012.
"[Those departures] coupled with the returns that came off the back of the GFC meant that some of the funds started to get some outflows and the profitability of the firm decreased," said Mr Deverall.
While he was quick to point out that the changes he had put in place would take a while to “take root”, Mr Deverall said he was pleased to see the performance of Hunter Hall’s funds – most notably the flagship Hunter Hall Value Growth Trust – begin to turn around.
The firm has managed to bring its ongoing operating expenses down 6.4 per cent to $9.98 million, achieving the stated aim of 2012/2013 to bring them below $10 million.
This has been achieved through a raft of measures, including staff cuts, the relocation of Hunter Hall’s Sydney office and, last week, the voluntary reduction of three non-executive directors' and Mr Deverall’s salaries.
“When I looked at my pay relative to comparative groups I said, ‘Well hang on, I should take a reduction’,” he said. “That was the right thing to do, and that’s been put in place for 2015.”
Whether or not Hunter Hall can “turn the corner” and return to profitability depends on a number of variables that are out of any managing director’s control, including the direction of stock markets, he said.
“I can’t control those sorts of variables. As the CEO I can control the team that we have here, I can control the investment process they adopt and the sorts of stocks they pick, I can help control our cost base,” said Mr Deverall.
“They’re the things that I’m focused on with the rest of the team, [Hunter Hall chairman] Peter [Hall] and the board – and if we do those things right, then the profitability will just look after itself.”
