Independent financial adviser Ascot Lloyd has reported a revenue hike to £41.4m ($51m, €46.5m) for the year ending 31 December 2018, compared to £31.5m in the previous year.
The firm’s growth has prompted it to expand within the UK financial advisory market, with the prospect of a further as yet undisclosed eight financial advice companies joining the business by the end of 2019.
It acquired financial planning firm Newell Palmer in December 2018, and bought two IFA firms, Stockport-based Prest Financial planning and QS Financial in Bromsgrove, in September 2019 adding six advisers and £350m of funds under management to its business.
Nigel Stockton, chief executive of Ascot Lloyd, said: “In many ways 2018 was a transformational year for Ascot Lloyd as we solidified our operations under a single brand, further invested in our platform and continued to execute on our acquisition strategy.
“At the same time, we increased both revenue and EBITDA by over 30%.”
Underlying EBITDA rose to £7.8m, from £5.8m in 2017.
Housing smaller businesses
“We have agreed terms on a further eight acquisitions which will be complete by the end of 2019. In total we expect to add 20 advisers, £15m of revenue and £1.2bn of FUM in 2019 to begin 2020 in a very positive position,” Stockton added.
“The outlook for our business has never been so positive, currently of the approximately £600bn of IFA funds across the UK, nearly two thirds are advised by small, standalone IFAs.
“The challenges facing these smaller firms is well known and we believe that this will continue to drive an acceleration of consolidation as smaller businesses look to find homes that can better support them and their clients.
“This presents a significant opportunity to Ascot Lloyd, enabling us to leverage our proven track record in integrating businesses, our purpose-built platform and, our commitment to giving advisers the support they need to acquire high quality IFAs.”
