Centrepoint eyes new year acquisitions

Addressing the group’s AGM on Friday, Centrepoint Alliance chief executive Angus Benbow said expansion would be the group’s key focus in 2021, as it looked to take advantage of the “addressable revenue pool of about $800 million in licence fees” in the Australian advice market.

“We plan to attract more advisers to use our services, either as individuals or self-licensed firms,” Mr Benbow said.

“We are continuing to explore opportunities for industry consolidation and further acquisitions to build and enhance our services and customer base. We want to leverage our reputation for leadership and offer the very best services by tapping further into this market, allowing us to gain further scale.”

Centrepoint chairman Alan Fisher noted in his address to shareholders that the group had added almost 80 advisers over the course of the 2020 financial year, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year’s growth numbers.

“This was achieved despite a 13 per cent contraction of advisers in the market during the financial year,” Mr Fisher said.

However, Mr Benbow said the company had been badly stung by legacy complaints due to AFCA’s increased jurisdiction to handle disputes dating back to 2008, which ended in June.

“Due predominantly to an increase of $3.4 million in legacy claims in FY20, lodged ahead of the extension to AFCA’s jurisdiction closing on 30 June 2020, our net loss before tax was $2.2 million,” Mr Benbow said.

“However, the AFCA window on legacy claims is now closed and we expect that all legacy claims have now been lodged.”

Mr Benbow noted the group had seen revenue increase by 11 per cent to $131 million over the financial year, driven primarily by the increase in its adviser footprint, as well as existing advisers growing their revenue bases.