Count merger strengthens South Australian presence
An Adelaide-based financial planning and accounting firm is set to merge into Count Adelaide.
In an ASX announcement, Count confirmed that Johnston Grocke has entered into a binding transaction to merge into Count Adelaide.
Johnston Grocke was founded in 1990 by Doug Johnston and John Grocke with a life insurance background and later expanded into financial planning and accounting in 1995.
The South Australian practice generates $3.8 million in new revenue, with approximately 60 per cent of this driven by financial advice.
Count said the transaction will significantly enhance its service offerings and market presence in South Australia.
“The merger represents an important development for Count Adelaide, with the combined business approaching $10 million in revenues, up substantially from $2.8 million in financial year 2023,” the ASX announcement stated.
“The transaction delivers a step-change in the financial planning business and is consistent with Count’s strategy of creating a national footprint of large, scaled equity partnerships.”
With Count currently holding a 45 per cent share of Count Adelaide, the holding will rise to 65 per cent in the 2026 financial year following the expected completion of the merger next month.
Count has a national community of more than 120 firms providing accounting and wealth services, spread across North Sydney, Western Sydney, Coolangatta, Gold Coast and Adelaide.
At the end of 2024, the financial advice group held the second-largest licensee owner position in Australia with over 600 advisers, while Entireti took the first spot with more than 1,100 advisers.
In its first-half results for FY25, the advice licensee said it had 512 firms on its AFSL. Statutory revenue was $73.9 million for the half-year period, an increase of 54 per cent on the prior corresponding period. Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) was $5.3 million, up from $2 million a year ago.
Funds under advice (FUA) were $36.2 billion and funds under management (FUM) were $3.5 billion.
During the half, it said it completed six acquisitions, four of which were equity partnerships and had a “targeted disciplined M&A strategy” that took four forms: direct investments, transformational investments, bolt-on opportunities, and equity partnership mergers.
- Direct investments – Investment into scaleable and high-performing firms to help Count grow its footprint.
- Equity partner mergers – Those that present a strategic opportunity to enhance leadership and scale within equity partnerships of a similar size and scale.
- Transformational investments – Those that deliver a material increase in scale, cost synergies, and productivity such as Diverger.
- Bolt-on opportunities – Highly accretive transactions to existing equity partnerships with opportunities to add or cross-sell financial planning services.
“We will continue our pace of M&A across four sectors. So long as the consolidation benefits the advisers and the accountants, then it’s a worthwhile strategy,” Count chief executive Hugh Humphrey told Money Management in March.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
Recommended for you
With a large group of advisers expecting to exit before the 2026 education deadline, an industry expert shares how these practices can best prepare themselves for sale to compete in a “buyer’s market”.
Australia has marked a decade among the best countries for retirement, according to Natixis, but with high inflation threatening their retirement goals, a third say they would get professional advice to improve their chances.
When it comes to the risks of acting as a responsible manager at an AFSL, compliance firm Holley Nethercote has shared a range of red flags that could see them facing disciplinary action from the corporate regulator.
Wealth management platform provider Netwealth has announced a partnership with FinClear to streamline trading capabilities for advisers.
