St Andrew’s posts healthy profit
John Van Der Wielen
HBOS wealth creation arm St Andrew’s Australia has reported a pre-tax profit of $22.6 million for the 2006 year.
This was up 109 per cent on the previous year and reflects the manager’s increase in funds under advice, which now exceeds $2 billion. This was boosted recently with the acquisition of Queensland planning firm Whittaker Macnaught.
Funds under management rose by 18 per cent during the year to $479 million.
St Andrew’s managing director John Van Der Wielen said the result confirmed the company was on a strong growth trajectory and continued to significantly increase its profits each year.
“St Andrew’s commenced operating in 1998, and only two years ago our profit was $5.7 million,” he said.
“During the past two years we have more than quadrupled our profit while acquiring RACV Financial Services and investing significantly in resources and infrastructure to support our aggressive growth plans.”
Van Der Wielen said the company’s wealth division recorded an 86 per cent increase in revenue for the year, and commission income nearly doubled in that period.
Sales of insurance products were 36 per cent during the year, he said.
“St Andrew’s was well-positioned to take its share of the strong performing superannuation sector through our BankWest network, RACV alliance and now Whittaker Macnaught,” Van Der Wielen said.
“We have seen significant take-up of our new range of simple, transparent life insurance products, which are available direct to customers.”
The company will continue to expand in 2007, he said, by expanding existing financial institutions such as RACV, while supporting the growth plans of BankWest.
“St Andrew’s will continue to broaden the range of our manufactured products to make insurance and investment products more accessible to Australian consumers,” Van Der Wielen said.
“We will also leverage the Whittaker Macnaught acquisition to increase St Andrew’s brand awareness and provide general education around wealth and financial management.”
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