‘Growing client demand’: Count equity partnerships driving revenue growth

In an ASX announcement on Wednesday morning, Count has reported a net profit after tax of $5.3 million and is embarking on a fourfold mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy as the number of advice firms on its Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee passes 500.

In its first-half results for FY24–25, the advice licensee said it now has 512 firms on its AFSL, which makes it the second-largest licensee behind Entireti.

Statutory revenue was $73.9 million, an increase of 54 per cent on the prior corresponding period. Statutory net profit after tax was $5.3 million, up from $2 million a year ago.

Funds under advice were $36.2 billion and funds under management (FUM) were $3.5 billion. It noted FUM was helped by the increased adoption of separately managed accounts.

The company declared an interim dividend of 1.75 cents per share.

During the half, it said it completed six acquisitions, four of which were equity partnerships, and has a “targeted disciplined M&A strategy”, which takes four forms:

• Direct investments – investment into scalable and high-performing firms to help Count grow its footprint.
• Equity partner mergers – those that present a strategic opportunity to enhance leadership and scale within equity partnerships of a similar size and scale.
• Transformational investments – Those that deliver a material increase in scale, cost synergies and productivity such as Diverger.
• Bolt-on opportunities – Highly accretive transactions to existing equity partnerships with opportunities to add or cross-sell financial planning services.

“Equity partnerships continue to be a key revenue and growth contributor and a strong focus on growing this segment and enhancing operational excellence,” Count said.

According to the firm, financial planning revenues within equity partnerships made up 25 per cent of total aggregated revenues.

It is also hoping to increase financial planning revenue through advice recruitment, acquisition of financial planning fee parcels and cross-selling to accounting clients.

Regarding the Diverger deal, which was completed in March 2024, it said it has realised $2 million in synergies so far and is on track to achieve $4 million for the full year.

“We are pleased to deliver these strong half-year results, continuing the momentum from FY24 and establishing Count as one of Australia’s leading providers of diversified financial services,” Count chief executive Hugh Humphrey said.

“Our results reflect the growing client demand for advisory services and the benefits of having successfully completed the Diverger integration. Count now provides education, technical support, consulting, investments and advice to accountants and financial advisers, giving them and their clients the confidence to look ahead.”