The Lighthouse Group has reversed a £232,000 pre-tax loss in the first six months of last year to record a profit before tax of £88,000 during the first half of this year.
Its interim results for the first six months of this year, published today (22 September), revealed that its revenues remained broadly flat at £23.4m compared to the same period in 2013, but average annualised revenues per adviser rose by 3 per cent to £83,000.
Although gross margins reduced from £7.5m to £6.9m as a result of variations in divisional sales mix, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by £385,000 to £436,000 due to a reduction in operating costs of £1.04m.
Richard Last, chairman of Lighthouse Group, called the results satisfactory, with the group continuing to make progress in dealing with industry-wide redress and regulatory issues that have arisen in recent years.
“The group and its advisers are working hard to engage with clients that have legacy assets on platforms, with a view to mitigating the impact on both the clients and the advisers as they reposition assets held on platforms to comply with FCA requirements in this area.”
He also mentioned that progress is being made despite recruitment having been slower than initially anticipated, “as a result of the contracting number of active financial advisers in the UK and the stringent criteria applied during the recruitment process”.
