Saunderson House, the adviser arm of Dublin-listed financial services group IFG, has posted a 13 per cent rise in profits for 2014, limiting a hit to earnings for its parent following a dive in profitability at sister business James Hay.
Adjusted operating profit at James Hay fell to £5.8m from £8m in 2013 in the wake of a major restructure of the business, which has lost a number of senior staff as it undertakes a shift from being a niche self-invested pension firm to a braoder platform wealth manager.
Saunderson House saw a 13 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit to £5.4m on the back of an 18 per cent surge in revenues. James Hay’s revenues were broadly consistent with 2013.
A wider group restructure saw the sale of five businesses generating £19.8m.
The sale of the Irish pension and advisory businesses to Willis Ireland for a consideration of £10.8m was completed on 11 December 2014. The sale of traditional UK advisory business IFG UK Financial Services to Ascot Lloyd Financial Services for a consideration of up to £8m was completed on 8 September 2014.
Additionally, the group divested of French IFA Siddalls France to Blevins Franks, Irish broker One Network and Japan-based advisor IFG Asia to their respective management teams.
Assets under advice and administration at year end were up 9 per cent to £20.1bn, compared to £18.5bn at year end 2013.
James Hay achieved net inflows of £1bn, up 67 per cent year-on-year, with assets under administration now reaching £16.4bn. New Sipp sales rose 24 per cent to 6,303 driving a 9 per cent increase in total schemes to 47,079 at year end.
Meanwhile, Saunderson House added 247 new clients, up 60 per cent on 154 added in 2013, and assets under advice grew by 16 per cent to £3.7bn at year end.
John Gallagher, IFG Group’s chairman, stated that it now has a clearly defined structure, with two standalone businesses and a central function clearly identified.
“Our strategy in James Hay is to expand and develop the business from being a focussed Sipp provider to being a full service platform with a broader capability in retirement wealth investment administration,” stated Mr Gallagher.
“We remain accessible for direct to consumer business and continue to develop our technological capability to widen our target market and drive efficiencies; in 2015 we expect to rebuild profitability as the benefits of our investment programme take hold.”
The report added that James Hay’s marketing strategy in 2015 will be more focussed on increased penetration of targeted advisers, including the development of key strategic partnerships. “In doing so, we believe we will achieve increased sales of higher margin products,” it added.
As for Saunderson House, he said that its focus will continue to be on high net-worth individuals through an investment proposition based on macroeconomic research and active asset allocation, with an emphasis on transparency of process and pricing.
“Our strategy is to continue to grow the business by increasing the number of clients and the value of assets under advice,” Mr Gallagher added.
peter.walker@ft.com
