Chris Woodhouse (pictured), Group Chief Executive, commented:
“2021 was a landmark year for the Group, in which we successfully combined Tilney and Smith & Williamson, while at the same time achieving our best year ever for both organic growth and underlying profitability.
“Our increased scale, combined with strong new business generation across both our Financial Services and Professional Services businesses, has meant that it has also been a significant year in terms of financial performance. We delivered record gross new business inflows of £6 billion – 11.7% of opening assets – and Group operating income of £560.8 million, helping to generate £188.4 million of Adjusted EBITDA, a 14.0% increase over 2020 on a pro forma basis. Our Adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.6% – a key measure of business profitability and efficiency – has increased year-on-year on a like-for-like basis and remains industry leading when compared to peers.
“Delivering excellent client experience is core to our success and during the course of the year we continued to make strategic investments into areas which will enhance and enrich client outcomes. In addition to our focus on hiring new talent, we also made significant progress with our digital transformation agenda. This has included the creation of a leading-edge and scalable financial services platform on to which we have begun successfully migrating clients. We aim to roll-out our App and digital portal to more of our clients during 2022.
“The relaunch of our Bestinvest platform in Q2 2022 will bring a host of new features, combining innovative digital tools with free access to investment coaches who are qualified financial planners. The relaunched Bestinvest will be especially well-positioned to help the many millions of people who are not currently getting the support they need to make their money work harder and achieve their goals. This is us making good on our statement of purpose to place the power of good advice into more hands.
“Notwithstanding current market volatility and the dreadful events unfolding in Ukraine, we have very strong foundations in place for future growth. We have both operational and financial strength and a large and growing pool of talent. We now have an unrivalled service proposition that spans DIY investing, financial planning, investment management and tax advice to help clients manage their personal wealth, alongside an extensive range of professional services for businesses. We are therefore uniquely well positioned to support clients with both their personal wealth management needs and business interests. As we become Evelyn Partners this summer, we look forward to a new and exciting chapter, focused on the future as truly one firm.”
