Rod Bristow

Clime Investment Management Limited (ASX: CIW) has called for an urgent Summit to discuss a coordinated approach to fiscal stimulus to support the ailing Australian economy.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday cut the official cash rate by 0.25% to 0.50%.  Notably, the RBA called out the negative impacts of the coronavirus on global growth.  It also called out that policy measures have been announced in several countries, including China, to help support growth.

“These are unprecedented times, with the impacts of the coronavirus coming so soon after the devastating bushfires.  The time for the Australian polity to show genuine leadership and support for the Australian economy is now”, Clime CEO Rod Bristow said.

“It seems that because one side of politics provided fiscal stimulus during the GFC, the other side of politics feels they cannot repeat this policy idea.  The Reserve Bank of Australia is nearly out of ammunition to provide further monetary stimulus and fiscal stimulus is urgently required to prevent the Australian economy going into recession”, Bristow said.

“We speak to thousands of Australian investors each year.  Our view is the Australian public cares less about wedge politics and budget surpluses and more about maintaining an adequate standard of living and an appropriate level of support for communities.  This has to take place by stimulating the economy by directly supporting, in particular, consumers and small businesses”, he said.

Clime said the Summit should call together leaders and finance representatives of the major political parties, the Departments of Treasury and Finance, representatives of small, medium and large business and community groups.  Collectively, the Summit should aim to develop a fiscal stimulus package that will have broad support across Government and Opposition, business and the community.  The fiscal stimulus package should be able to be rapidly implemented for maximum positive impact on the Australian economy.

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Rod Bristow

Clime is pleased to announce the extension of its distribution network with three funds joining the Netwealth and Hub24 platforms. This includes both investor directed portfolio services (IDPS) and Superannuation Services to provide expanded and consistent access for Australian financial advisers.

The Clime funds now available on these platforms are:

• Clime Australian Income Fund
• Clime Smaller Companies Fund
• Clime International Fund

The addition of these Clime funds to these leading platforms follows their receipt of strong SQM ratings: Clime Smaller Companies Fund – 4 stars; Clime Australian Income Fund – 4.25 stars and Clime International Fund -4.25 stars.

Clime’s Chief Executive Officer, Rod Bristow, said: “The effective combination of top-down and bottom-up analysis plus the experience of the underlying investment team, who together boast more than 150 years’ experience, were considerable driving forces in both the ratings and platform approval.

“We are looking forward to supporting financial advisers around the country with quality investment solutions, allowing them to focus on what they do best: giving clients great advice and growing their businesses.”Clime’s investment portfolios reflect an investment in quality stocks using a rigorous valuation discipline. Clime’s primary objective is to achieve strong returns for clients in excess of the relevant benchmark with lower levels of risk. This grows and protects capital in the accumulation phase and generates meaningful income in the retirement phase.

Clime’s Head of Investments, Adrian Ezquerro, said: “The inclusion of our managed funds on these two prominent platforms is further validation of our investment process and ability to deliver high quality investment solutions.’’

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Rod Bristow

Clime Asset Management’s three funds – International, Income and Smaller Companies – have turned in stellar performances for the 12 months to 31 May 2019.

The latest Morningstar data shows that the Smaller Companies Fund ($30 million) returned 16.3% for this period ; the Income Fund ($24 million) returned 7.4% ; and the International Fund ($98 million) returned 8.7%.

Under the new leadership of CEO Rod Bristow and Head of Investments Adrian Ezquerro, Clime is refining and enhancing its long-established credentials in funds management, with its quality focus and strong valuation discipline investment style.

Bristow says: “Managing money in the current investment environment is difficult. There are many challenges, characterized by slow growth, increased volatility and ultra-low interest rates, but we believe Clime has the right processes in place to be able to deliver value to our investors.

“It’s our emphasis on deep research, a strong focus on quality and a bias towards value that allows us to differentiate and find attractive, long-term investment opportunities.”

The Smaller Companies Fund, which had its second birthday in April, has successfully outperformed both its benchmark (a blended ASX Small Ords + ASX Emerging Companies Accum Indices) and its peer group since inception, returning an average 19.3% a year as of May 2019. This outstanding performance is despite holding a healthy cash reserve, typically about 15%.

Commenting on the investment process, Portfolio Manager Jonathan Wilson emphasises quality and value. “We invest in niche leaders that are positioned for long-term success, provided they’re attractively priced. They include Audinate, Macquarie Telecom and Navigator Global Investments.”

The Australian Income Fund is a multi-sector balanced fund designed to deliver regular income and offer low risk of capital loss. It is exposed to domestic fixed interest (45%), domestic equity (18%), listed and unlisted property (22%) and cash (15%). Over the past three years, it has reported average returns of 6.78%.

The International Fund, jointly managed out of London with the large institutional house Sanlam, invests across a range of mostly large cap global stocks. Its largest holdings at the end of April were Microsoft, Roche Holdings and Alphabet, with 40% held in US equities. Its five-year return has been 9.21% a year.

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Stephen brings over 30 years’ experience in investment management, retail, wholesale and institutional product distribution. Stephen joins from OneVue Ltd where he held positions as Head of Group Sales and Head of Distribution for Platform Services for a combined period of 10 years. Prior to this Stephen was at Philo Capital Advisers and Macquarie Bank and held similar roles as Head of Sales & Marketing and Head of Distribution.

Stephen holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland and completed his MBA at the London Business School. He is well known and respected across the national Financial Adviser community and has good reach across dealer groups to help Clime achieve our goals.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining Clime. I am a firm believer that advisers’ clients will benefit from the quality products and services Clime has on offer. I look forward to working with the Clime team to bring these products to new customers and markets”, says Mr Karrasch.

Rod Bristow, Clime CEO adds “Clime has enhanced its investment offer and is actively investing in future growth through supporting financial advisers with high quality investment products for their clients. We are pleased to have Stephen join our team and his expertise will add significant value to our customers and partners, leveraging the strength of Clime’s traditional wholesale business and outstanding investment performance track-record”, he said.

Since listing on the ASX in 2001, Clime has been a regular ‘no-nonsense’ commentator on markets, helping every day Australian take positive action to improve their wealth. Well known as an Australian equity manager for wholesale clients, Clime’s investment solutions are now available to financial advisers. These include the Clime Smaller Companies Fund, Clime CBG Australian Equities Fund, Clime International Fund and Clime Australian Income Fund. Clime also acts as the Investment Manager for a prominent Queensland-based dealer group, managing a series of IMAs and SMAs on behalf of advisers within the Group.

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Spencer has some 15 years’ marketing experience across a diverse range of financial services brands, products and propositions. He’s held senior marketing roles with Macquarie Bank and CommSec, and was most recently a senior marketing leader at ANZ Wealth.

Scott also holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from Macquarie University. He’s also achieved a Diploma of Financial Planning and Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance from Kaplan Professional.

Rod Bristow, CEO of Macrovue, is delighted to welcome Scott to the team and looks forward to his contribution.

“Scott will play a key role in leading Macrovue’s marketing function to help deliver our value proposition of making international investing easy for our key target markets of direct clients, SMSF Trustees and financial advisers,” he said.

“Macrovue is also working with Australian stockbrokers looking to add international share trading capability by ‘white-labelling’ Macrovue’s leading global investing solutions.  Scott will make a valuable contribution here as well.”

Bristow added “Scott’s networks and experience across share trading, investment platforms, private banking, financial advice, life insurance and investment lending will be invaluable for Macrovue as we look to accelerate our already strong growth trajectory.”

Commenting on his new role, Spencer said: “I’m thrilled about joining the innovative team at Macrovue.  They’ve created a unique and accessible offer that empowers investors to grow wealth and diversify their investments through thematic global share investing.  I look forward to working with the team to further evolve our proposition and help realise Macrovue’s significant potential.”

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Rod Bristow

AMP-backed fintech Macrovue has announced it has appointed Rod Bristow as CEO.

Rod is a former Chief Operating Officer and alternate Managing Director of Australia’s largest online stockbroker CommSec.

Most recently he was Managing Director and CEO of Infocus Wealth Management – a national financial advice, asset management and technology group.  In these roles, Rod led large teams to drive substantial growth organically and via mergers and acquisitions.

Macrovue will retain the expertise and capability of Founder Dr Sid Sahgal, who will move into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer.  This strategic move will provide substantial depth of capability for Macrovue to deliver on its vision of providing Australians with exposure to global investment opportunities and a simplified way to invest in the world’s most successful companies and leading sectors.

Macrovue Chairman Brendan Foley said “Sid and his team have done an incredible job in rapidly growing Macrovue in our three key target markets of SMSF trustees, retail investors, and financial advisers.  We are embarking on an exciting growth phase of the business and are looking forward to benefiting from Rod’s expertise to assist with the next stage of Macrovue’s evolution.  To help with this growth phase, we will be embarking on a Series A capital raising round to scale the business and leverage the successes we have seen to date”.

Macrovue has recently integrated with the SuperConcepts Connected Services SMSF investment product marketplace, providing SMSF trustees direct access to Macrovue’s global equities investment solution. Macrovue is also working closely with several large financial advice firms to provide advisers with affordable access to global equities, ETFs, and Macrovue’s model portfolios.

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Roy McKelvie, Chairman of the Board of Directors said “The Board would like to thank Rod for his Leadership over the last 6 years. During his tenure the company has expanded organically and through acquisition, growing on our national network of financial advisory practices providing financial advice solutions to clients all around Australia. This has been a period of substantial change in the financial services industry and Rod has ensured that the company is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities these changes will represent. He leaves with our best wishes for the future”.

Rod Bristow commented “I am proud of my time as CEO at Infocus. Not only has the company grown to become a stronger national organisation delivering wealth management solutions to Australians from all walks of life, but it is now seen as a leader in terms of compliance, use of technology, breadth of service and the efficiency of the delivery of financial advice solutions for clients. I will be taking some time out personally between now and the New Year, I wish the company well on its next stage of growth.”

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Rod Bristow

Infocus is pleased to announce its acquisition of leading financial advice business Announcer.

Announcer currently has offices in Sydney and Brisbane providing financial advice, mortgage broking and property advisory for clients, and adds its particular flair to Infocus’ growing national footprint.

Infocus Managing Director and CEO Rod Bristow says Announcer is a perfect fit for the business.

“Announcer becoming part of Infocus provides us with fantastic industry thought leadership, innovation in client service and access to a holistic client service offering covering financial advice, mortgages and property advisory,” Mr Bristow said.

“Announcer helps deliver on our vision of empowering every day Australians to live their best life through convenient access to affordable financial advice,” he said.

Announcer was started in 1996 by founder and CEO Andrew Rocks. It has since grown into one of Australia’s leading financial advisory firms with an award-winning culture and service model and a dedicated team driven to help clients achieve their goals.

“I started Announcer as a way to help those families like my own, to take control of their financial lives through proactive budgeting and tackling the tough personal financial decisions,” Mr Rocks said.

“This acquisition represents the next chapter for Announcer and we’re thrilled to join the Infocus team to continue empowering Australians to grow their wealth,” he said.

Infocus’ commitment to compliance and innovation were key drivers for the decision.

“We are impressed by Infocus’ governance, systems and software including award-winning CRM and advice process management software Platformplus. This will help us with substantial efficiencies in delivering our holistic advice model”.

Announcer will be co-branded to be identified as part of the Infocus Group. It will become the Sydney link in Infocus’ national salaried advice strategy, joining offices already established in Melbourne, Brisbane, Maroochydore and Townsville.

Announcer will continue to deliver its holistic service model to current and new clients and all staff will remain with the Announcer business. Mr Rocks will report directly to Infocus’ Managing Director and CEO Rod Bristow and become part of Infocus’ national leadership team.

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Rod Bristow

With their demonstrated commitment to innovation in the financial advice space, Infocus has recently updated its holistic finance practice management software Platformplus with digital signature technology.

Following a consultation with Infocus Group Financial Advisers, clients can now download and review advice online, then sign off via their mobile device.

This technology is the latest addition to the comprehensive Platformplus client management suite, which also includes account management, portfolio summaries, a unique Product Disclosure Statement library, straight-through-processing for client investments and a comprehensive client portal where clients can complete FDS and opt-in online – all cutting down on time and paperwork for busy financial advisers.

“There is a lot of talk in the industry at the moment about technology and how fast it’s moving”, said Infocus Managing Director and CEO Rod Bristow.

“Our team are constantly developing new and exciting additions to the system, so advisers who use Platformplus can be assured they are utilising the latest technology,” he said.

Platformplus was developed by advisers and our in-house I.T. team. The system has been designed specifically for financial advice businesses, offering efficient and compliant provision of advice and client engagement and management.

“One of the benefits of Platformplus is that it’s a turnkey solution for advisers. They don’t need anything else to run their business, other than their email,” Mr. Bristow said.

“It’s a one-stop-shop for advisers to manage their entire business, from CRM through client engagement, advice process management, compliance and reporting.”

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Rod Bristow

After winning the national tender to partner with H&R Block in December 2016, a pilot program offering no obligation wealth management services to H&R Block tax and accounting clients in South-East Queensland was launched.

In nine weeks of running the pilot contacting nearly 20,000 H&R Block clients, Infocus has seen a 20% uptake in H&R Block clients wishing to discuss superannuation consolidation, retirement planning and personal family insurance needs with an Infocus Group financial adviser.

Given the success of the pilot, the program will be rolled out nationally in August this year. Ahead of the national roll-out, individual H&R Block offices at over 300 locations around the country will be introduced directly to their local Infocus Group financial adviser. This ‘Meet and Greet’ program will build strong relationships between the H&R Block management and accounting teams and Infocus Group advisers.

“A partnership is all about trust,” Mr. Bristow said. “The opportunity for our advisers to meet their local H&R Block Office Managers and Accountants builds rapport, helping H&R Block feel confident in referring their clients to us.”

The national Meet and Greet will commence this week in Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. Plans are also underway to link regional H&R Block offices with their local Infocus Group financial adviser prior to the start of the tax season.

Managing Director and CEO of Infocus, Rod Bristow said, “This is a great opportunity for H&R Block clients to receive accessible, affordable financial advice to help them live their best life.”

“It’s also a huge opportunity for our growing number of Infocus Group advisers to help clients who may never have considered seeking financial advice previously,” he said. “During the pilot program we have onboarded a number of advisers in South East Queensland to service the demand from H&R Block clients for quality financial advice. With the national rollout from August, we are actively seeking qualified, experienced and personable financial advisers right around the country to join the Infocus Group”.

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