Acquisitive Chartered Financial Planning firm Fairstone has increased client numbers by 10% to 65,000 over the past 6 months.

The company reported at its annual conference in Newcastle that it had added £500m in Funds Under Management and almost £3m in gross fee income over the period.

Six further firms were fully acquired by the company representing about £6m in fee income.

The company mainly acquires firms through its Downstream Buy-Out (DBO) process which provides for gradual acquisition.

Using the DBO process, a further six businesses have recently moved to full acquisition over the last six months.

These include Wakefield-based Lofthouse Gate, Mortgage Find in London, Burscough-based Octagon Wealth Management, Chilli Financial Ltd in Stockton, Swaffham-based Hamlyn Financial Services and Wagstaffs Wealth Management in Stevenage.

Collectively these firms account for combined gross fee income of circa £6m, FUM of £613m and a total of 35 advisers and 33 support staff.

Fairstone expect to make further acquisitions in the first half of this year and three further three businesses have joined the DBO programme in recent months:

• Belfast-based ASM Financial Planning provides pension, protection and investment advice to HNW  individuals. It adds £1.5m of fee income and £250m in FUM, as well as 3,200 clients, seven advisers and nine support staff.
• Cube Financial Planning, based in Romsey, is a whole of market Chartered Financial Planning firm and brings fee income of circa £800,000 and more than £150m FUM to Fairstone, as well as 153 clients, two advisers and two support staff.
• Sterling Asset Management, based in the East Midlands, provide pension and investment advice, and brings fee income of more than £600,000 and circa £100m FUM to Fairstone. The firm also brings 900 clients, four advisers and one support staff.

Fairstone has also increased operational staff by 100 over the past year and now has 345 regulated advisers and 265 staff operating across 42 locations countrywide.

Lee Hartley, Fairstone chief executive, said: “While we recognise that we are all moving into a different climate with challenges ahead, our clients can be reassured by the fact that we are in a strong position.

“A robust business will have the benefit of stable cashflows and consistent profitability to minimise any material effect to trading performance.”

Fairstone has secured additional acquisition finance from European asset manager Alcentra, part of BNY Mellon Investment Management.

The new capital is in addition to the very significant financial support that the company maintains from its lead Private Equity investor, Synova Capital.