Nucleus has pledged to inject more money into its platform technology, as it announced profits had soared.

Profit before tax hit £4.3m for the year ended 31 December 2016, which was up 21% on a like for like basis from £3.6m in 2015. Total reported profit in 2015 was £4.8m which included a one-off non-recurring contribution of £1.2m as a result of a change in operating model.

David Ferguson, founder and CEO of Nucleus, said: “This year will see a further increase in investment in our core platform technology, our people and in broadening our user proposition.

“This investment is critical in ensuring we can deliver a regular cycle of platform improvements in 2018 and beyond, as well as widening our range of services.”

“Our improved scale and increased profit has allowed us to reduce prices for clients with larger portfolios as we announced earlier this year.

“This will come into effect from 1 July and this has already generated a substantial volume of new enquiries.”

Assets under administration reached £11.4bn at the end of 2016, up 23% from an AUA of £9.3bn at the end of 2015. AUA climbed to £12.2bn as at the end of Q1 2017, the results report stated.

Turnover increased to £33.3m over 2016, a 15% rise on the £29m reported for the previous year.

Net inflows for the full year totalled £1.1bn, a slight dip on the previous year’s net inflow of £1.3bn but in line with the decline in net inflows year on year across the advised platform market.

Doug Heron, chief financial officer of Nucleus, said: “We are extremely pleased with our 2016 results, particularly given the difficult set of market, political and economic conditions that existed throughout much of the year. We have seen a very strong uplift in our assets, turnover and profit.”

Mr Ferguson added: “With such a strong set of results we have never been more confident for the year and years ahead and in particular the role independent wrap platforms will play in the landscape post MiFID II, FAMR and the Asset Management review.”