The company increased its Yorkshire staffing levels from 55 to 65 in the year to September 28, and moved to new premises in York. Total income in the year to September 28 was £206m, down from £209m recorded the year before. Full year pre-tax profits also fell from £41.7m to £36.2m.

Brewin Dolphin's discretionary funds stood at £10.2bn on September 28, a drop of 4.7 per cent which compares to the falls of 21.3 per cent and 14.6 per cent suffered by the FTSE 100 Share Index and FTSE APCIMS Private Investors Series Balanced Portfolio Index respectively over the period.

Jamie Matheson, the company's executive chairman, said: "In a year characterised by difficult and volatile trading conditions, your company achieved a relatively resilient performance reflecting the fundamental strengths and scale of the business.

"Overall, as the UK's largest independent private client investment manager focused on long term equity investment, we have a good platform to continue to develop despite the uncertain economic environment."

Mr Matheson said the Yorkshire operation was "doing fine", adding: "We are thrilled to bits with our new York premises. York is an appropriate area for our sort of service. It's where our typical client base should be.

"We are positioning ourselves for 2009 being a tough year. We are keeping a very tight eye on costs."

Mr Matheson said the company had benefited from the arrival of new investment managers and financial planners; developments which are expected to continue.

During the last year Brewin Dolphin opened offices in Chester and Nottingham.

It has also expanded and moved its offices in Birmingham, York, Jersey, Dundee, Inverness, Lymington and Newcastle. New teams have joined the company in Belfast, Cheltenham, Exeter, Leeds and Taunton.

Mr Matheson added: "I believe that the group has performed well during this period but we cannot consider ourselves immune from stock market conditions and it is likely that this will be reflected in our results for the year ahead

"There are many lessons to be learned from the turmoil of recent months. In particular, there is now a wide recognition that debt in whatever sphere must be kept in proportion, which clearly emphasises the importance of equity."

Finncap analyst Duncan Hall said: "Despite the difficult market conditions the investment management division increased operating profit with finance income an important income stream for the group."