Intrinsic bosses remained upbeat about their prospects in the intermediary’s latest set of results, stating that Sesame Bankhall advisers will push the group back into profit.
Annual results filed with Companies House showed that Intrinsic Financial Planning posted a £1.27m loss for 2014, compared with a £673,000 profit in 2013.
Intrinsic stated the number of advisers in the restricted network rose from 699 in 2013 to 930 in 2014, helping drive turnover by 34 per cent to £61.9m.
While overall margin levels were marginally reduced on 2013 levels, much of the increase in adviser numbers were achieved through transition of firms, from what bosses described as “lower margin independent businesses”.
According to the report, financial planner numbers should grow in 2015 and around 220 advisers will move across from Sesame Bankhall Group during the third quarter of this year.
The results stated: “Increased capacity combined with improving productivity levels are expected to result in the business moving back into profit for 2015.”
It was back in April that Intrinsic, part of Old Mutual Wealth, was selected as the preferred network partner by Sesame Bankhall Group following its decision to no longer offer a network option for investment and pension ARs.
This came as a result of an internal review, carried out by John Cowan, executive chairman at SBG. He told FTAdviser sister paper Financial Adviser that the closure of the wealth AR network was “a natural progression from the RDR changes” as the regulatory regime had put the traditional network models under pressure.
Intrinsic’s results also stated that while the business was focussed on “inherently lower level of advice risk”, bosses are concerned about “industry level issues that could arise due to changes in regulatory sentiment”.
It added: “The quality and checking regime within the business continues to focus on customer outcomes as the basis of avoiding the likelihood of complaints.”
The results also confirmed that Intrinsic is currently reviewing it’s mortgage advice proposition, “to ensure that we have the appropriate systems and controls in place to deliver consistently good customer outcomes”.
emma.hughes@ft.com
