Mr Shuttleworth was previously General Manager of Platforms and Investments at BT Financial Group where he was responsible for $115bn in assets under administration and $40bn in funds under management. John led the development of BT Super for Life, Australia’s first low-cost superannuation product. He also initiated and ran a large-scale technology transformation for the wealth business, BT Panorama involving redefining the product, technology, and service architecture for BT.

Chairman Alan Fisher said “We are pleased to attract an executive of the calibre of John to lead the Company. Over the last three years Centrepoint Alliance has focused on building and strengthening our licensee services through a period of significant industry change. John will lead the Company through our next phase of growth as we focus on expanding our service offering and digitising key services.”

Mr Shuttleworth said “Having the opportunity to lead Centrepoint Alliance through the next phase of growth is a privilege. Over the last few months, I have had an opportunity to consult with the Board and Senior Executive Team. I have been impressed by the calibre and professionalism of Centrepoint Alliance executives and their passion for advice. Centrepoint Alliance has a great culture and is a Company with a strong foundation for growth.”

Centrepoint Alliance is the leading provider of advice and business services to financial advice firms throughout Australia. It offers a complete suite of governance, business management, client growth and advice services that enable advisers to spend more time providing advice to their clients.

In the 12 months to 30 June 2021, Centrepoint Alliance appointed more than 70 authorised representatives to its own Australian Financial Services Licenses. This is a record for the Company, ranking first amongst its peers for new advisers.

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Angus Benbow

Leading provider of advice and business services to financial advice firms, Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX: CAF), has announced that its strong growth trajectory continued during 1H FY21.

Gross revenue for the half was $70.6m – an increase of 15% on 1H FY20.  Net revenue from authorised representative fees increased by $2.3m.

The Company reported a net profit after tax for the half of $1.6m, compared to a loss of $1.5m for the same period last year.

EBITDA increased by $1.8m from the same period last year to $2.1m (excluding legacy claims) due to advice fee growth, slower runoff of rebates, and continued focus on operational efficiencies.

Centrepoint Alliance continues to grow its position as a scalable service provider to licensed and self-licensed financial advisers and attract quality advisers, with 27 new advisers joining during 1H FY21.

The Company previously announced a resumption of dividend payments and will pay a fully franked special dividend of 3c per share and an interim ordinary dividend of 1c per share.

Mr Angus Benbow, Centrepoint Alliance CEO, said: “We are proud to deliver continued improvements in revenue and profitability in the first half of this financial year.

“The three-year strategic transformation that we commenced during 1H FY19 is progressing according to plan and has allowed us to improve the Company’s operating performance and positioned us to seek new strategic opportunities.”

Mr Alan Fisher, Centrepoint Alliance Chair, said: “Centrepoint Alliance continues to improve its operating performance, and competitive position as the Company navigates structural change in the wealth management industry. While the size of the advice industry as measured by authorised representatives is shrinking, large licensees such as Centrepoint Alliance are gaining share and leveraging the advantages of scale and technology leadership.”

Looking forward, Mr Benbow said Centrepoint Alliance was well-positioned to benefit from ongoing industry fragmentation.

“We enter 2021 placed strongly to drive continued growth and value for our investors and our community with a scalable business model, revenue certainty, an attractive service platform for advisers, and a simple and clean balance sheet.”

Mr Benbow highlighted Centrepoint Alliance’s advice technology strategy as a key driver of further business growth following the Company’s significant investments in Enzumo, data capabilities and partnerships over the past three years.

He noted Centrepoint Alliance’s recent agreement with UK-based Intelliflo will make it one of Australia’s first large-scale licensees to access Intelliflo’s open data architecture benefits.  Intelliflo has been working with Centrepoint Alliance-owned Enzumo, its Australian implementation partner, and several pilot Centrepoint Alliance practices over the last 18 months.

“We retain a clear focus on our objectives to enhance value in 2H FY21, as we drive aggressive organic growth in the licensed and self-licensed market, leverage our scale advantage with adviser technology investments and extensions, and actively pursue consolidation opportunities,” Mr Benbow said.

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Angus Benbow

Leading provider of advice and business services to financial advice firms, Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX: CAF), has announced strong growth during FY20 including an increase of 11% in gross revenue and a 61% increase in adviser fee revenue.

Announcing its full year results Centrepoint Alliance said while the operating environment had been unprecedented, conditions have provided significant business opportunities as the need for advice and the transformation of advice delivery gathered pace in the second half of the financial year.

Key FY20 highlights include:

• Gross revenue up by 11% to $131.0m, driven by strong growth in new advisers and significant increase in average gross revenue per advice firm.
• Adviser fees increased by 61% to $10m, with the average annual adviser fee growing by 84% to $36k, continuing the transition to a sustainable recurring fee model.
• Strong 2H20 result, with gross profit up $1.1m and management expenses down $2.0m on 1H20.
• Adviser recruitment running at record levels, onboarding 79 new advisers (up 16% from previous record growth in FY19).
• Licensed adviser base increased by 6% to 317 in a market that has contracted 13% in the past 12 months.
• Low churn, retaining 83% of advice firms under new FY20 pricing structure from 1 July 2019.
• Acquisition of leading advice technology firm, Enzumo, completed in June 2020 for $1.5m.

Mr Angus Benbow, Centrepoint Alliance CEO said the results affirmed the Strategic Refresh that Centrepoint Alliance had embarked upon in early FY19 to reposition for growth.  The strategy focuses on advice and business services, leveraged through new data and digital tools, and a new transparent pricing model.

“FY20 has been a busy and successful year for Centrepoint Alliance. The conditions of our operating environment have presented challenges which are significant, but I am pleased to report that these same conditions have provided opportunities for us to demonstrate value to our adviser community,” said Mr Benbow.

“We are particularly proud to have delivered recurring growth which has accelerated in H2 FY20, providing tailwind momentum heading into 2021.

“Through our strategic transformation we have developed an increasingly attractive suite of services, which has empowered us to attract new advisers to the Centrepoint Alliance community at a record rate, despite the financial advice market shrinking overall.

“A key priority has been to improve the quality and breadth of our technology offering and we took an important step forward in this regard with our acquisition in June 2020 of the Enzumo financial planning technology solutions business.”

Mr Alan Fisher, Centrepoint Alliance Chairman, said as the wealth management industry has undergone structural change, the strategic path that Centrepoint Alliance has chosen has placed the Company well to capitalise on disruption in the sector.

“The need for quality financial advice has never been more pressing, and we were pleased to recruit record numbers of new, quality financial advisers in FY20. Centrepoint Alliance is an increasingly attractive adviser destination with a growing reputation for integrity and leadership,” he said.

Looking ahead to FY21, Mr Benbow said Centrepoint Alliance was well positioned to take up opportunities, particularly as smaller licensees seek to adapt their business models following a once-in-a-generation industry transformation.

“Our areas of focus for the year ahead are to continue to attract high quality licensed and self-licensed firms to the Centrepoint Alliance community, enhance the value of our scalable service platform, and actively explore industry consolidation opportunities,” said Mr Benbow.

“We enter FY21 well-positioned to achieve these goals with a robust, cash-generative and scalable platform, backed by the balance sheet strength to grow quickly and opportunistically. In addition, our adviser community has confirmed to us they are extremely satisfied with Centrepoint Alliance and our ability to fully support them in the areas they value most.”

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Alan Fisher

Business services provider to financial advisers, Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX: CAF) (‘Centrepoint’, the ‘Company’ or the ‘Group’), has announced a turnaround in profit for the financial year ended 30 June 2019 (FY19), and a successful transition to a new revenue model.

The company reported a pre-tax profit of $1.2m (compared to FY18 $3.4m loss) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $2.4m (compared to FY18 $1.6m loss).

Chief Executive Officer Angus Benbow said the FY19 results validated the new strategy announced in August 2018. “Last year, we embarked on a new strategy to focus on providing services to advisers, with the introduction of a new pricing model which repositions the business for growth. I’m very pleased to say these initiatives are showing strong signs of success.”

Centrepoint was one of the first in the market to move to a fee-based revenue model. “The financial advice sector’s business model need to change”, he said. “We are leading by example and we were one of the first scaled advice businesses to reset pricing.”

Mr Benbow said that 86% of firms in the Centrepoint authorised representative network had transitioned to the new pricing model. “Our revenue mix is moving to be predominantly sourced from service fees paid by advisers.”

FY19 Summary

• Profit before tax of $1.2m (FY18 $3.4m loss)
• EBITDA of $2.4m (FY18 $1.6m loss)
• Accelerated transition of revenue mix towards recurring fees
• 86% of adviser firms retained under new pricing model (195 of 227 firms)
• 80% increase in new onboarded advisers
• Chairman, Alan Fisher, said: “Centrepoint is well placed to take advantage of the disruption in the wealth management sector.

“Our business transformation is progressing well, and we remain focussed on assessing partnerships, acquisition opportunities and enhancing shareholder value.

“During the year, we have welcomed new advice businesses to the network and continue to see financial advisers proactively looking for a quality business services partner. In fact, we recruited a record number of new financial advisers in the fourth quarter of FY19. We continue to assess more firms, as they are increasingly attracted to our service offer.”

Mr Benbow said that there is ever more pressure on advisers and advice firms – costs are rising, regulatory requirements are increasing, and revised education standards are transforming the industry. “We know advisers are feeling fatigued with the level of change,” he said.

“This is why we have implemented a model where both self-licensed and corporate licensed advisers can access a full suite of business services and support. With the quality and scale of our offer, we are well placed to support advisers as they adapt to this new landscape by providing the tools and services they need to succeed.”

Centrepoint offers a complete suite of governance, business management, client growth and advice services that enable advisers to spend more time providing advice to their clients.

Looking forward, Mr Benbow said that Centrepoint’s areas of focus for FY20 are to:

• Launch fee-based offer for self-licensed advisers
• Drive continued growth in licensed network
• Further invest in technology and data to enable greater scale and superior service to advice firms

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