Brooks Macdonald’s underlying profit before tax rose to £17.6mn, meaning its underlying profit margin was up 3.3 percentage points to a “new high” of 28.4 per cent.
Shepherd said while “we didn’t know we were going to need it at the time”, in light of the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it puts the investment manager in a stronger position.
The chief executive said Brooks Macdonald is “active” in the mergers and acquisition market this year, and is open to deals if “the right thing comes along”.
Last year, it bought Cornelian Asset Management and Lloyds’ Channel Islands wealth management and funds business.
“We are very particular in what we buy,” said Shepherd. “We’ve seen over time what damage a poor purchase can do to a business.”
Digital update
For the last 18 months, Brooks Macdonald has been in the midst of a digital transformation of its back-office, funds, and onboarding process for advisers.
Shepherd said he was excited to launch digital onboarding for advisers. “It’s a real step forward, instead of them receiving 240 pages it’s all online.”
The firm is currently in the roll out process of digital onboarding. Its technology partner is SS&C, which recently bought Hubwise.
The firm is currently migrating the last part of its client book to the SS&C platform, but it is now looking at ways it can build Hubwise capabilities into it.
“This means it is taking a bit longer with the build, but it’ll offer much better long-term benefits.”
A new client portal is also set to land once the migration to SS&C is complete.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
