Financial Planner Tavistock has sold its hybrid digital app business LEBC Hummingbird back to a wholly-owned subsidiary of original owner LEBC Holdings Limited for £3m.
Hummingbird will be acquired by LEBC subsidiary Aspira Corporate Solutions.
Tavistock acquired LEBC Hummingbird in May for £3m from retirement adviser LEBC.
Hummingbird was launched in 2019 with the aim of helping individual investors to save and budget via an app. It is an unregulated business that allows users to track their savings and investments on an app and then seek regulated advice from advisers, if they need it. It is a hybrid advice style-app developed in conjunction with Moneyhub.
In January Tavistock bought a 21% stake in LEBC stake from the founder’s widow for £10m. LEBC had struggled since the unexpected death of its CEO and founder, Chartered Financial Planner Jack McVitie, 57, in 2020 after a short illness.
LEBC reported a loss last year of £232,000.
On 3 May 2022, Tavistock announced that it had received consent from the FCA for the company to become a controller of LEBC.
Tavistock says its board has worked closely with the management of LEBC to maximise the value of its investment in LEBC for both sets of shareholders. As a part of the arrangements, Tavistock agreed to acquire Hummingbird from LEBC to provide that company with additional working capital, Tavistock said.
However, as an alternative source of working capital has been subsequently identified for LEBC Group Limited, Tavistock has agreed to sell Hummingbird back to LEBC’s Aspira on the same terms as those on which it had been bought in May.
Hummingbird’s accounts for the year ended 30 September 2021 show that the company achieved gross revenues of £0.61 million, profit before tax of £0.43 million and had gross assets of £0.13 million as at 30 September 2021. Tavistock has received approximately 6 months contribution from Hummingbird to the group’s results for the year ending 31 March 2023.
