Financial services group Fairstone has announced a 29% increase in revenues to £17.4m for the year ended 31 December, 2014. There also was a 42.5% improvement in underlying EBITDA performance, with losses reduced to £585,000.
Other highlights included a 152% growth in recurring income and operational results for 2015 already ahead of forecast. As at the end of September 2015, Fairstone had £5bn of client Funds Under Influence (FUI), of which £2.1bn is classed as Funds Under Management (FUM). What’s more, current revenues now stand at £30m with over 230 financial advisers contracted within Fairstone’s regulated businesses. There are also over £100m of client funds within its managed portfolio products, which operates under the regulated entity, Fairstone Private Wealth Limited.
Fairstone said that its continued growth is mainly down to significant traction in its Downstream Buy Out (DBO) programme, with a series of 11 deals with partner firms completed at various stages within the reported 2014 financial year.
Fairstone Chief Executive Lee Hartley (pictured above) said: “I am delighted to announce that the Fairstone Group continues to make excellent progress against our core strategy and growth plan. We remain absolutely focused on our buy-out strategy and we continue to believe that successful consolidation is driven by dealing with integration ahead of the acquisition.
“We are committed to working with high-quality firms that want to drive their performance upwards over the coming years and, by doing so, realise optimum value for their business. We are already ahead of our forecasts for 2015 and interest in our DBO proposition has never been higher, with a very significant series of deals at various stages of maturity.
“The last financial year has been a successful one and we’re looking ahead to a very exciting future for Fairstone. Our business is well placed to take advantage of the regulatory changes within the markets in which we operate, and this provides an impressive backdrop to our business plan. We sit here with the benefit of a proven business model, financial numbers on an upward trajectory and significant funding at our disposal. All in all, this is a very attractive combination of factors.”
