Revenue was also up by 36% to £5.11m and gross margins showed a slight improvement from the previous year (58.3% from 57.9%).
Harwood attributed its growth in assets and revenue to the eleven strategic acquisitions it carried out during the first half of the financial year, which delivered £480m of AUI. Its acquisition of Wellian’s assets made up nearly half of that figure (£242m of AUI).
The group’s £10m IPO completed on 29 March 2016 will also help with the continued acceleration of its acquisition strategy, stated joint chief executive officers, Neil Dunkley and Alan Durrant.
And Harwood’s spate of acquisitions is set to continue. The group confirmed it had a steady stream of potential acquisitions at various stages of completion and was in the market for new target acquisitions and financial advisers.
Despite returning healthy H1 results, Durrant and Dunkley mentioned that shareholders would have to wait for the commencement of dividend payments until at least the first quarter of 2017.
Harwood’s chairman, Peter Mann commented: “I am delighted to be able to report our maiden set of results since our successful IPO on AIM. Such strong growth affirms our reasons for carrying out the IPO as well as underlining the strength of our business model and management team.”
Dunkley and Durrant emphasised that Brexit uncertainties had not phased the group: “If anything, uncertainty created by the EU referendum has served only to strengthen the need for good quality financial advice. We are therefore optimistic for the Group’s future growth prospects.”
