The Mortgage Advice Bureau has seen adviser numbers grow by 135 in 2018, to 1,213 at the end of December.
In its results for 2018 out this morning (March 19) the mortgage adviser posted a pre-tax profit of £15.7m, up 8 per cent on the £14.5m achieved in 2017.
Revenues reached £123.3m in 2018, up 13 per cent on the year before, while revenue per adviser was up 1 per cent based on the average number of advisers throughout the year, which was 1,130.
Though adviser numbers had increased 13 per cent throughout 2018, by March 15 this year they had grown by a further 21 to 1,234 advisers.
Throughout 2018 Mortgage Advice Bureau was able to increase mortgage completions by 18 per cent and its market share by 10 per cent.
Peter Brodnicki, chief executive of Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: "Despite continued political uncertainty we have achieved robust growth in revenue, up 13 per cent to £123m, which has translated into strong growth in earnings per share up 9 per cent to 25.9p.
"Accordingly, the board is pleased to propose the payment of an increased final dividend of 12.7p per share, making total proposed ordinary dividends for the year of 23.3p, up 9 per cent on the prior year.
"Mortgage Advice Bureau continues to deliver on its strategy to grow market share in all market conditions whilst maintaining a strong financial position.
"We are focused on delivering sustainable long-term growth and providing the best possible solutions and outcomes for our customers.
"We plan to continue growing our market share and mortgage completions, whilst leading the evolution of intermediary distribution that we expect to see over the coming years."
Mr Brodnicki added the Mortgage Advice Bureau had completed the first development phase of its new platform, which is due to start testing with a number of business partners, before rolling out to the remaining firms over the course of this year.
Moving forward the Mortgage Advice Bureau expects revenue per adviser to remain flat in 2019 due to uncertainty around the Brexit negotiations.
This affects particularly the estate agency part of the business. The firm anticipates further growth in adviser numbers however.
It stated: "The majority of our existing appointed representatives have strong growth plans for 2019 and 2020, however those that operate primarily in the estate agency sector are tending to pause their expansion plans and delay filling vacancies.
"This will impact marginally upon our average adviser figures for 2019. Due to the many initiatives that Mortgage Advice Bureau has in place, we expect the growth in revenue per adviser and adviser growth to return to normal levels in 2020.
"These assumptions are based on no noticeable improvement in the housing market in 2019 and 2020."
It added: "When the political climate becomes clearer, we expect to see overall confidence return. At this point we should see the start of some pent-up demand in the housing market being released and our estate agency focused ARs responding in terms of delivering adviser growth.
"We are confident that our strategy, driven by our customers and their changing expectations, will continue to drive growth in Mortgage Advice Bureau's market share year on year and deliver attractive returns to investors."
carmen.reichman@ft.com
