Sense has seen pre-tax profits increase 38 per cent during the year to the end of May, through a strategy of focusing on the more profitable advisers in its network.
Parent company Sense Adviser Services’ latest financial statement revealed a pre-tax profit of £867,800 - up on the £646,600 for the previous year.
The results also showed increasing revenue, up 13 per cent on the back of turnover increasing to £21.1m at 31 May 2015, from £18.7m at the same point in 2014.
This was down to higher productivity per adviser, according to the statement, even while the number of investment advisers fell slightly over the period, “as we focused our efforts on attracting and retaining quality firms with higher per capita turnover”.
The number of appointed representatives in the network increased from 74 to 78 this year, while the number of authorised advisers fell from 198 to 182.
Meanwhile, central staff numbers increased from 22 to 26 over the period.
The firm’s director Tim Newman, stated: “We believe there is now a significant opportunity for differentiation in the marketplace, with Sense progressively being seen as the home of choice for modern, independent financial planning practices.”
He mentioned the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Advice Market Review, which amongst other things will look at the use of independent and restricted labels.
“Regardless of the results of this review, Sense remains committed to delivering professional financial advice on the widest possible choice of products,” Mr Newman added.
Stephen Young, chairman at Sense, commented that while the business welcomes the principles behind the FAMR, particularly with regard to widening access to financial advice, Sense would also like to see a period of stability in conduct regulation.
“Firms need to have more certainty if they are to invest in growing their businesses and constant change is not conducive to profitable investing.”
peter.walker@ft.com
