Rapidly expanding Financial Planning firm Fairstone Group has delivered double-digit growth, according to its annual results for 2021.
Its adjusted EBITDA at the end of 2021 showed a profit of £12.8m.
The business reported a 22% increase in revenue in 2021, climbing to £84.8m.
It also said there had been a 21% increase in funds under management to £13bn and a 19% increase in recurring income to £62.2m.
Repeating income, which encapsulates all revenues generated from existing clients, stood at 92% of turnover.
Meanwhile Fairstone saw a 12.6% rise in wealth clients and a 16% rise in transactional clients during 2021.
Lee Hartley, chief executive said: “Combining our acquisitive success with organic growth has delivered considerable year-on-year growth, with revenue and gross margin significantly ahead of the prior year.”
He said the business was bolstered by the completion of a transaction with global private equity house TA Associates in 2021, with private equity backers Synova also reinvesting and funders Alcentra increasing the scale of acquisition facilities available.
“Against this backdrop, we once again delivered strong progress across the business, making excellent headway against our strategic growth plan, as well as continuing to provide the highest level of service to our clients, which is borne out in our 98% client retention rate.”
He said the business is resilient, underpinned by a strong client base and a solid financial foundation to drive growth and accelerate an ambitious acquisition programme.
The Financial Planner has been busy buying up other firms in recent years and completed eight acquisitions during the year.
On top of that 10 firms joined its downstream buy out programme in 2021 with a view to full acquisition within the next two years.
In May 2022 it acquired £135m AUM Cumbria-based Chartered Financial Planning firm Financial Concepts for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Hartley said: “The group’s vision is clear; to be the leader in the whole-of-market advisory space. Our considered approach, together with our proven business model and the significant financial backing that we have at our disposal, allows the management team and shareholders to look ahead to the future in a very positive manner.”
Newcastle-based Fairstone incorporates one of the UK’s largest Chartered Financial Planning firms and has more than 1,000 employees across 40 UK-wide locations. It oversees £13.5bn in FUM for more than 50,000 wealth clients and 40,000 mortgage clients.
