Lighthouse off the rocks with £600k profits before tax
Aim-listed advisers Lighthouse Group has posted a profit before tax of £600,000 with an increase in advisers’ average annualised revenue a factor, chairman Richard Last has announced.
He said: “The group continued to make good progress during 2014, a year which saw ongoing investment in our national Lighthouse Financial Advice (LFA) division and the launch of the Lighthouse Pensions Trust (LPT) auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized enterprises.”
Last year the company, which provides advice to personal and corporate clients through advisers across the UK, posted a loss of £1.6m.
With the average revenue production for advisers increasing 5 per cent to £86,000 in 2014, Mr Last said it demonstrated the resilience of the group’s trading models in the two years since the introduction of the retail distribution review.
Revenue generated from affinity-based sources rose by £5.2m, 37 per cent, from £4.2m, or 31 per cent. The group’s affinity-based subsidiary LFA was reshaped in 2012 with £4.2m invested in adviser recruitment and development, IT systems and long-leasehold premises acquired in 2013.
Recurring revenues continued to grow and amounted to £20m, or 46 per cent of total revenues generated from customers, in 2014.
Revenues at the intermediary were down to £46.8m, compared with £48m for the year before.
Net cash balances were £7m, down from £7.7m in 2013, after a bank loan and unsecured loan notes totalling £2m.
In January 2014, the group launched a pensions trust auto-enrolment proposition aimed primarily at businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and to help them with its AE obligations.
Mr Last said: “With the main market for the LPT coming on-stream in the latter part of 2015 and beyond, together with a cost base more closely aligned to the ongoing operations of the business and a strong cash balance, operational scale and a robust business model, Lighthouse is well positioned to deliver future growth.”
In January, the firm launched a dedicated mortgage and protection advice offering in response to increased adviser demand for protection in the retail consumer mortgage market.
Lighthouse Mortgage and Protection Solutions will be initially available to a subset of the group’s affinity partners, representing around 1.7 million members.
Adviser View
Laurence Sanderson, financial consultant at Essex-based Sterling & Law, said: “It is good news when a company is doing well, with auto-enrolment and the pensions freedom people needing advice, which is reflected in the figures, both with employers and individuals. The mortgage market has also been buoyant, which together with uptakes and flows in other products and investments is a reflection that the economy is improving.”
