Adviser platform Nucleus Financial Platforms turned a pre-tax profit of £25m during the financial year to 31 December 2022, despite suffering a drop of nearly £5bn in assets under administration (AUA) across the 12 months.
This was the group’s first set of annual results since the merger of Nucleus Financial Group and James Hay Partnership in 2021, and CEO Richard Rowney (pictured) said the group’s combined scale was starting to pay dividends, despite the drop in assets.
Ebitda hit £47.7m, up more than 500% on 2021’s figure, and revenue jumped 80% year-on-year to £114.5m.
Administrative expenses also grew, but their rate of increase was far exceeded by that for the group’s revenue.
This meant the group reversed the £24m pre-tax loss it suffered in 2021.
Nucleus said the 10% fall in group AUA, to £43.5bn, was in line with other platforms, and it reflected the adverse market movements that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year.
The platform also suffered some £174m of net outflows as a result of the closure of several products. However, it still attracted client money to its available products, as net inflows in that area hit £169m for the year.
Nucleus has bought Bristol-headquartered financial services company Curtis Banks, creating an adviser platform with around £80bn in AUA. The deal is due to complete in the third quarter of 2023.
Last autumn New York-headquartered HPS Investment Partners became a majority shareholder in the Nucleus, joining minority shareholders Epiris.
