Wealth management firm Tilney hails Scottish contribution to record year

● Group has dealt with ‘ considerable amount of new regulation’ recently

Wealth management and investment group Tilney is eyeing “acquisition opportunities” after hailing a record year and a solid contribution from its Scottish operations.

The group said its underlying earnings had doubled in the last year to £ 86.6 million while revenues grew by 68 per cent to £ 226.5m. Gross new inflows were up by 62 per cent to are cord £3.21bn and the firm highlighted assets under management ( AUM) of about £ 24.1bn, a rise of 60 per cent.

During the period, Tilney completed the integration of Towr y Group and pushed ahead with the roll-out of a “major new technology platform”.

The firm, which has S cottish operations in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, said it will look to augment growth with new hire sand “potential acquisition opportunities”.

Chief executive Chris Woodhouse said: “2017 was another record year for Tilney with our average AUM up 60 per cent year- on- year and ending 2017 at over £ 24bn.

“I mpor t antl y, we s aw a 62 per cent increase in gross new business, demonstrating our ability to grow organically as well as by acquisitions.

“With our past acquisitions of Towry and Ingenious Asset Management now fully inte - grated, our scalable business model del ive r ed a doubling of [ earnings before i nterest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, or Ebitda] to £ 86.6m whilst growing our Ebitda margin up to 43 per cent.”

He added :“The wealth management profession has, of course, had to respond to a considerable amount of new regulation in recent years and that is a particular challenge for such a fragmented profession.

“Against this backdrop the benefits of scale are becoming increasingly apparent.

“We will continue to look to accelerate our growth further through hires of talented financial planners and investment managers, who see the attractions of our model, as well as exploring potential acquisition oppor- tunities where the fit is right.”

Paul Frame, the firm’s head of Scotland, said: “Tilney has grown to become one of the largest wealth managers operating in Scotland… where we manage or advise on circa £ 3.5bn of assets on behalf of private investors and charities.”

“We see excellent potential to grow further in Scotland given the strong demand for expert advice created on the one hand by increased tax and pension complexity and on the other the need to navigate increasingly uncertain investment markets.”