Brooks Macdonald has expanded its sales team with three appointments, at a time when other asset and discretionary managers are trimming sales teams.
In a press release today, it said it had appointed nabbed Gary Stirrup from Fundsnetwork as national sales manager. It has also appointed Thomas Ball and Philip Penrose as business development managers to boost its regional growth plans in East Anglia and Manchester respectively.
Stirrup joins with over 20 years’ experience in investment management, starting his career at Friends Provident in 1992, followed by leading at Old Mutual and most recently at Fidelity’s platform.
Ball joins from Prospect Wealth Management, where he was most recently head of business development, while Penrose joins from MitonOptimal UK, where he was head of UK sales.
Investment industry trimming sales staff
NextWealth managing director Heather Hopkins said the appointments are interesting news. “Asset managers and discretionary managers are for the most part trimming sales teams. Brooks Macdonald appear to be doing the opposite.
“The appointments show a commitment to strategic partnerships with some senior hires as well as a robust regional strategy. The latter is where we’ve seen more staff cuts.”
Willis Owen head of personal investing Adrian Lowcock added that Brooks clearly wants to strengthen its relationships with IFAs to grow its business.
“Despite the increasing use of technology within financial services, wealth management remains a people focused business and even more so when dealing with higher net worth individuals where relationships continue to matter,” Lowcock said.
Brooks Macdonald co-head of UK investment management John Wallace (pictured) said expanding its regional business development teams is a key part of its growth strategy.
The appointments come ahead of Brooks full-year results coming out next week.
Peel Hunt analyst Stuart Duncan said: “Although we are forecasting only a modest improvement in FY19 profits, this masks a significant amount of progress made over the past year: the legacy Channel Islands issue is largely resolved, costs have been reduced to improve operational leverage and there has been a focus on distribution and client propositions.”
In July, Brooks Macdonald announced it was merging the workforces in its two existing London offices and relocating to one location in the City, as well as also announcing an office move in Edinburgh.
