Wealth manager and Financial Planner Evelyn Partners has reported strong growth in its fourth quarter trading update for the period ended December.

The company said today that net inflows in Q4 were “robust” and there was strong growth in operating income.

Bucking recent trends with many investment firms, Assets Under Management & Advice (AuMa) were up by £1bn to £53bn (£52bn at the end of Q3).

Evelyn Partners is the new name for the merged business launched when Tilney and Smith & Williamson combined.

The company reported:

• Group operating income in Q4 of £158.6 million, up 9.8% from £144.5 million in the same period last year, driven by performance from the financial services and professional services businesses
• On a full-year basis, operating income for the year rose 7.1% to a record £600.8m
• Gross inflows in Q4 were £1.4 billion, representing an annualised growth rate of 11.1% on opening assets. Net inflows in Q4 were £625 million, an annualised growth rate of 4.8%

Chris Woodhouse, group chief executive, said the company had shown strong performance against a “difficult backdrop.”

Mr Woodhouse said that despite the challenging conditions the firm was continuing to look for acquisition opportunities.

He said: “To complement organic growth and progress, we continue to explore opportunities to acquire high quality businesses in both the financial advice and professional services sectors where we see a strong strategic and cultural fit. I look forward to working with the team to maintain this momentum as we continue with our growth trajectory.”

He added: “We ended 2022 with continuing strong new business inflows and growth in operating income in Q4. This rounded off a year of excellent delivery against our strategy, in which we saw £5.4 billion of gross new money won and operating income reach an all-time high of £600.8 million.

He said 2022 saw significant development for the firm with a rebrand to Evelyn Partners and the relaunch of its Bestinvest D2C arm as a hybrid service combining digital tools with free coaching, low-cost advice and the new Smart fund range. Bestinvest also has a new app.

The firm has also recently launched four new Evelyn Multi-Asset funds that invest in direct equities, bonds and collective investments. 

Evelyn’s ‘Retiring IFA’ programme also showed growth with six deals completed in 2022, taking the total ‘RIFA’ deals completed to eight since the launch of the initiative at the end of 2021. The programme offers retiring IFAs a chance to hand over clients to Evelyn to allow them to retire.

Mr Woodhouse said the outlook for Evelyn Partners in 2023 was “very positive”.

He said: “Our strength in Financial Planning and both private client and business tax advice is particularly relevant given the rising tax burden in the UK. We are continuing to hire new talent and are further enhancing our services.”