Fiducian looks to SMA, SMSF markets
Fiducian Group has foreshadowed further growth in planner numbers together with moves into the managed accounts and self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) markets on the back of a solid full-year result announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today.
The company announced a 24 per cent increase in underlying net profit after tax to $8.71 million on the back of a 20 per cent increase in funds under management administration and advice to (FUMAA) to $5.7 billion.
The result saw the directors declare a fully-franked dividend of 8.9 cents per share bringing the total fully franked dividened to 16 cents per share.
Commenting on the result, Fiducian managing director, Indy Singh said the company’s business model had continued to produce strong double-digit earnings growth.
“Going forward, management will again focus on developing ways to realise the full potential for growth that’s been built on the solid foundation of funds management, platform administration, information technology and business/accounting services,” he said.
Singh noted that, during the year, Fiducian had selectively made $97 million of acquisitions of financial planning client bases which took current funds under advice to $2.14 billion.
He said the firm would be intensifying its efforts to grow the financial planning business through organic growth and acquisition, but acquisition for the sake of acquisition was to be avoided.
Elsewhere in its ASX documentation, Fiducian revealed negotiations were underway with prospects who could use the firm’s services to administer their client share and fund portfolios, also called Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs).
Outlining its growth strategy to investors, the company pointed to its objective of increasing cross-referrals between planning and accounting and building SMSF administration and accounting.
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