Countplus delivers big dividend to Count Financial

The public listing of Countplus has helped deliver Count Financial Limited a record net profit after tax for the six months to the end of December — up 212 per cent to $42.88 million.

The degree to which the Countplus listing had driven the result was revealed when the big accountancy-based financial planning dealer group said that gross revenue had increased just 1 per cent to $61.18 million.

The company reported that while wealth protection new business had grown by 22 per cent over the period, lending commissions had fallen by 13 per cent. The company also stated that fees and revenue from traditional retail superannuation, investments, asset finance and life insurance was down 8 per cent to $6.85 million.

The half-year report also revealed the degree to which Count now has a finger in many of its competitors’ pies, with the company reporting that it has a $10.19 million interest in the Centrepoint Alliance, a $6.74 million interest in DKN and a $27.10 million interest in Mortgage Choice.

This represented 17.3 per cent of Mortgage Choice, 8.25 per cent of Centrepoint Alliance and 7.4 per cent of DKN (which it described as “a smaller complementary business to Count”).

The company noted that it expected to see increased rationalisation of all sectors of the financial services industry and “would consider opportunities as they arise in the light of future prospects”.

The company indicated a positive outlook for shareholders predicting an increase in earnings per share this year of over 120 per cent and normalised net profit after tax to grow by over 25 per cent.

“We expect operating profit to grow but around 10 per cent in the second half and around 5 per cent for the full year, assuming capital markets grow in line with long-term market averages,” the company’s announcement said.