Money Management examines the share price growth of advice licensees as the year-end approaches.
As of 12 December, four listed licensees have reported gains while another four have seen losses during the year. As a benchmark, the ASX 200 has risen by 3.7 per cent over the same period.
The worst performance was seen by Insignia, where chief executive Renato Mota will step down in February 2024 after five years, which lost 33 per cent in a gradual decline throughout the year.
This was followed by AMP which lost 26 per cent, much of this in February when the firm announced net profit after tax in its advice division declined by 34 per cent from $280 million to $184 million.
Speaking to Money Management, Colin Williams, founder of Wealth Data, said: “AMP and Insignia have struggled for years. It is hard to see a way back for them, and it is difficult to turn the ship around.
“Looking back to when Insignia announced the MLC deal, they were going to be bigger and brighter but instead their business has shrunk dramatically in terms of numbers of advisers.”
This week, Insignia lost the title of Australia’s largest licensee after the sale of its Millennium3 division to WT Financial saw 140 advisers move over. Instead, AMP now holds the title with 872 advisers.
However, it has just begun a three-year transformation process, which includes a new Advice Services Co (ASC) division, so that could have an impact in the long term.
Looking at the licensees which saw strong performance, Diverger gained 29 per cent and Centrepoint Alliance gained 35 per cent.
Diverger was helped by the bid from Count, which is set to acquire the firm in February 2024.
The other licensees which saw gains were WT Financial which saw a smaller share price rise of 11 per cent, and Count which gained 1.4 per cent.
Rounding out the major licensees, Sequoia lost 3.5 per cent and Fiducian lost 14.5 per cent.
| Firm | Share price growth |
| Centrepoint Alliance | 35% |
| Diverger | 29% |
| WT Financial | 11% |
| Count | 1.4% |
| Sequoia | -3.5% |
| Fiducian | -14% |
| AMP | -26% |
| Insignia | -33% |
Source: ASX, 12 December 2023
