Count offers direct shares, reverse mortgages
Count Financial has given its planners the green light to recommend reverse mortgage products and has also singed a deal with Commsec to offer direct equities.
While announcing a 59 per cent increase in half-year profits yesterday, Count managing director Barry Lambert also outlined plans to set up a SMSF trust deed that will allow the listed company’s accountants to take old disparate trust deeds and meld them into one common deed.
The new deed will automatically keep track of tax law changes and best practice.
Lambert said the move into direct equities through Commonwealth Bank owned trading facility Commsec was struck mostly to allow accountants to access details of their client’s trades. But he added the new service would be appealing the group’s SMSF clients, a great deal of whom invest in direct equities.
Lambert also gave Count’s over 1,000 financial planners permission to use reverse mortgage products, but only those on a Count recommended list.
As for the future performance of the company, Lambert said that while it was presently in good shape, he could not guarantee the stellar profit growth of the past several years would continue at the same rate, and admitted that more acquisitions would be required to fuel growth.
That said, Lambert also revealed figures that showed strong organic growth, with over 90 per cent of Count franchisees qualifying for Count options last year because they achieved growth over 12.5 per cent.
Lambert said future acquisitions would be boosted by the creation of a new standalone accountancy business, CountPlus.
The new business, which Lambert intends to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2009, will give franchisees the opportunity to be bought out by Count in return for cash or Count options.
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