Investment manager Walker Crips has appointed a Chartered Financial Planner to strengthen the firm’s Financial Planning-focused wealth management division.

James Bonarius is a Chartered Financial Planner and member of the Chartered Insurance Institute. He has worked in financial services for over 20 years, most recently at Tilney.

He was previously a senior Paraplanner at Pen-Life Associates and spent a decade at Aviva Life & Pensions.

He will focus on business development and growing client relationships.

The firm has also appointed an additional administrator and a graduate trainee to the wealth management team.

Dominic Martin, managing director at Walker Crips Wealth Management, said: “We welcome James and believe that he will be a strong addition to our wealth management team. He brings additional breadth of knowledge and experience to our advisory offering and forms part of our continued growth in this space. His experience and commitment to client relationships will bolster our high quality service to the benefit of our clients.”

In August Walker Crips reported full year profits for the year ended 31 March up 97% to £963,000.

Annual revenues for the year rose 3% to £31.4 million (2019: £30.5 million) and pre-tax profit nearly doubled to £963,000 (2019: £489,000) and was up 13% to £588,000 (2019: £521,000) excluding exceptional items.

Assets Under Management were hit by the impact of Covid-19 on global markets, particularly during the final month of the company’s financial year. AUM declined by 15% over the year to £2.8 billion (2019: £3.3 billion).

The company provides investment management and wealth management services, pensions administration and financial regulation software.