Count marks ‘milestone’ FY25, M&A deal size growing
Count chief executive Hugh Humphrey has said FY25 was a “milestone year” for the business as it completed its Diverger integration, exceeding targets with $5.1 million in cost synergies.
The firm agreed to acquire Diverger in March 2024 and spent the past year integrating this into the business. Having initially targeted cost synergies of $3 million from the deal, this was exceeded and the licensee achieved $5.1 million instead.
Humphrey attributed the increased savings to renegotiation of contract terms, reduction in leasing costs, deduplication of roles and board roles, and deduplication of listings.
Speaking to Money Management, Humphrey said: “We have had a milestone year given the integration of Diverger. The deal was done some time ago, but it is only now that we are fully integrated. We have seen strong revenue growth and made our highest dividend payment in eight years.”
Revenue rose by 28 per cent to $143.6 million, up from $111.8 million in FY24, which reflected strong growth across all three of its operating segments – wealth, equity partnerships, and services.
Funds under advice grew by 10 per cent to $37.8 billion and funds under management were $3.9 billion, thanks to net inflows and strong investment performance.
A final dividend was declared of 2.75 cents per share, bringing the FY25 dividend to 4.5 cents per share.
Humphrey said the firm was very active with M&A activity, completing one every five weeks during the year, and it noted the acquisition size and strategic value of the deals it is enacting is “trending upward” with the average annual equity partner firm revenue sitting at $8 million.
There is particular focus on tuck-in acquisitions where Count brings advisers into existing accountancy firms, best demonstrated by Count Adelaide which merged with financial planning and accountancy firm Johnston Grocke in April 2025. Tuck-in acquisitions yield strong returns, he said, of 20 per cent ROI.
“A focus has been on acquiring financial advice business. We’ve been strong in accounting historically and some of our businesses there still have plenty of opportunity for growth in financial planning so often we can boost our capability by bringing in an advice business to complement that.”
With the Diverger integration completed, Humphrey said the firm may still look at future transformative deals, defined as those large deals which would “cause a stepchange” in its operating model.
“We are very interested in doing more transformations and have the capacity and track record to do so very well and have built some compelling capabilities in the past. We are interested in the right sort of opportunity and right quality of business.
“We took on some debt with the acquisition of Diverger but left ample headroom for day-to-day M&A activity. Any big transformation would be complemented by a capital raising as well.”
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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