Evelyn Partners announces £184.3 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2022

Evelyn Partners is pleased to announce its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022, achieving continued momentum in new business, a record level of operating income and a resilient adjusted EBITDA. The business also made strong progress with its strategic priorities, including the rebrand, its digital and operational transformation programme and further enhancing its service offering.

2022 Key Financial Measures

Financial Highlights

• Group operating income increased 7.1% to a record level of £600.8 million (2021: £560.8 million)
  
  
• Achieved gross new business inflows of £5.4 billion, with net new business inflows of £2.3 billion, the latter representing 4.0% of opening assets.
  
  
• Resilient adjusted EBITDA* of £184.3 million (2021: £188.4 million)
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of operating income was a sector leading 30.7% (2021: 33.6%)
  
  
• Assets under management (AUM) were £53.0 billion at 31 December 2022 (2021: £57.7billion)
  
  
• The Group maintained its robust balance sheet with total equity of £1.4 billion as at 31 December 2022

Strategic Highlights

• The rebrand to Evelyn Partners took place on 14 June 2022, a milestone which confirmed the completion of the integration of Tilney and Smith & Williamson, while also reflecting the fact that the business is one firm united by a shared purpose.
  
  
• The relaunch of Bestinvest as a hybrid service went live in May 2022 with a new website and enhanced features, accompanied by a multi-channel promotional campaign. The ability to book virtual meetings with coaches or purchase fixed cost advice packages acts as a differentiating feature and is proving popular with clients.
  
  
• Strong progress with our operational and digital transformation programme. Our new integrated Financial Services platform, Alpha, provides front-to-back integration between reporting, settlement automation and in-house custody. Following a first tranche of the migration in 2021, in 2022 we successfully migrated a further 12,000 clients, and now have over £33 billion of assets on the platform as at year end.
  
  
• 2022 saw significant developments in our office network. In May 2022 we completed the relocation of over 1,600 colleagues in London to our new head office at 45 Gresham Street. During the course of the year, we also relocated colleagues to new offices in Birmingham and Newcastle, as well as opening a new office in Brighton. Our new premises in London and Birmingham are both rated ‘Excellent’ under BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for buildings, consistent with our commitment to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions in our corporate operational footprint.
  
  
• At the end of 2021 the business launched an initiative to provide financial advisers approaching retirement an opportunity to find a new home for their clients. Our Retiring IFA (RIFA) programme gained momentum in 2022, with the owners of a further six firms completing deals to join us, bringing the total to eight.

Chris Woodhouse, Group Chief Executive, commented:

“The Group delivered a resilient financial performance in 2022, against a backdrop of challenging macroeconomic conditions and volatile markets. This is a testament to the strength of our business model, the value our clients place on expert advice, and the commitment of our people.

The continued strength of our Financial Services and Professional Services businesses helped contribute to a record operating income of £600.8 million for the year. We generated £5.4 billion of gross new money, representing 9.4% of opening assets, while net flows were also positive at £2.3 billion. Adjusted EBITDA, which reflects the cash profitability of the business, was £184.3 million, a slight decrease on the prior year which was our best year ever. This was principally due to the impact of weaker markets, as well as continued investment in people to support future growth with headcount increasing 11.2% to 3,600 at year end. Our industry-leading adjusted EBITDA margin remains strong at 30.7%.

The year was also one which saw the group make significant strategic progress. Our rebrand to Evelyn Partners, which took place in June, was well received by clients and marked the fact that we are now one firm united by a shared purpose – to place the power of good advice into more hands. This purpose was underlined by the relaunch of Bestinvest as a hybrid service, combining digital goal planning tools with free access to coaches who are qualified financial planners. We believe this acts as a differentiator in the market by addressing an underserved group, providing people who may have low confidence in their investment knowledge with the access to the support they need to become better investors and achieve their financial goals.

Striving to improve client experience while enhancing the scalability of our operations is a key objective for the business, and we have made good progress against this over the course of the year, successfully migrating further assets on to our new financial services platform, while also advancing the digital experience in our Professional Services business.

We continue to explore opportunities to enhance growth through acquisitions in both the financial services and professional services sectors. We recently completed the acquisition of Leathers LLP, a high-quality firm of Chartered Accountants and tax specialists with offices in Newcastle and Harrogate, which further develops our professional services presence in the north of England.

Although economic headwinds remain, inflation is expected to continue to slow, and equity markets have had an encouraging start to 2023. As an advice-led firm with strength and scale in financial planning and both private client and business tax advisory expertise, we are particularly well placed to help clients navigate the changes to the UK tax regime set out in the Autumn Statement, alongside the ability to manage their investment portfolios. We expect this to drive continued strong demand for our expertise over the coming year and beyond.”

ENDS


*Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation. This is the Group’s key measure for underlying financial performance which adjusts for non-cash accounting charges and non-recurring exceptional costs such as those incurred on completing a major transaction.