SIPPJul 11 2018

Liberty Sipp posts £506k profit in record year

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Liberty Sipp posts £506k profit in record year

Self-invested personal pensions (Sipp) provider Liberty has seen revenues increase by a third and profits by a fifth in its most successful year yet, the firm has reported.

According to Liberty's annual results published today (11 July) revenues grew 35 per cent in the 12 months to April, taking its annual turnover to a £2.86m.

The company, which currently has £2.95bn of assets under management, made a pre-tax profit of £506,000 in 2017 to 2018.

This was up 19 per cent on the previous year.

Matthew Rankine, director of sales and marketing at Liberty Sipp, said: “These are exciting and challenging times for the Sipp sector as a whole. As fees have come down, Sipps have become a more mainstream product and are now an essential part of every adviser’s toolkit.

“We’re hugely proud of the progress we’ve made and our record-breaking results are testament to the passion and hard work of our fast-growing team.

"We’re determined to build on our achievements and have invested in the people and technology we need to provide an even better service to both present and future clients.”

Business was brisk at the start of the current year, with sales between April and June up 20 per cent on those during the same period in 2017. Liberty now administers 12,800 Sipps.

Much of the new business has come through a growing network of partnerships with platforms and DFMs, and through adviser recommendation, Liberty said.

The provider now works with 745 financial adviser firms across the UK. The firm employs more than 50 staff and grew its pension administration team by a third in the past year alone.

Liberty offers just one product - the low-cost Liberty Option Sipp. Introduced in 2013, it charges no set up fee and has an annual management fee of £175 plus VAT.

Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, said: “The profit growth looks good. But stock markets have been strong and that helps all AUM.”

The provider has been plagued by a string of controversies stemming from historic sales. In May, it became apparent 27 claimants had instructed Wixted & Co Solicitors to pursue Liberty over accepting unregulated investments in its Sipp which later lost value.

The claimants held the likes of Ethical Forestry, Sustainable AgroEnergy and Gravity Child Care, which had been introduced to them by six unregulated firms.

In the same month, solicitors firm Anthony Philip James & Co (APJ) said it is bringing more than 30 cases against Liberty Sipp in relation to unregulated esoteric investments.

The firm took on the cases from claims management company First Target Recoveries, which, it said, had had 872 clients referred to it by the insolvency practitioner, but had reached the end of its legal options.

APJ notified the courts of 30 cases, which it will seek to consolidate, but it claims it has 700 more investors who allege they have suffered significant losses as a result of unregulated pension investments through Liberty Sipp.

But Liberty denies any wrongdoing and said it stopped taking esoteric investments into its books in 2013, with the vast majority of current holdings qualifying as standard.

The cases come as questions are being raised over Sipp provider liability.

Experts believe that the pending court case of Carey v Mr Adams could swing the way Sipp provider liability is dealt with in consumers' favour, which could spark a further flurry of claims across the industry.

aamina.zafar@ft.com