Fintel, formerly known as SimplyBiz, has reported a drop in revenues and profits in its 2020 results as the adviser support company seeks more acquisitions.
Revenues for 2020 were £61m (2019: £62.8m) with operating profit dropping to £11.4m (2019: £12m).
In its results released today, the group - which includes Defaqto - said it will look to combine "organic growth and selective acquisitions."
Organic growth is expected to be driven by its core digital services and technology offering.
Exceptional operating costs due to the firm’s restructuring and redundancy programmes were £0.8m.
The group also confirmed that it had received some government support.
Despite the pandemic-hit results the group’s EBITDA margin improved slightly to 28.4% (2019: 28.2%) due to a combination of "digital acceleration" and cost saving efficiencies.
Net debt also decreased to £19.4m (31 December 2019: £27m).
Adviser support company SimplyBiz Group rebranded at Fintel in earlier this month following its acquisition of fintech Defaqto for £74.3m in 2019 and a greater focus on technology.
While overall revenues dropped, intermediary services revenue increased 4% to £25.1m (2019: £24.2m). The intermediary services division provides compliance and business services to financial intermediary firms through a membership model. The division also provides employee benefits software to consultants and employers.
The Defaqto business delivered £15.3m of revenue. The aggregate value of advice recommendations through the fintech platform grew to £30.1bn (2019: £21bn) due to increased adviser engagement.
Defaqto delivered a strong adjusted EBITDA margin of 43% (FY19: 43%).
The financial intermediaries business saw average revenue per customer of £6,729, an increase of 4%. Membership fee income increased by 4% to £10.7m and practice management software licence income grew by 8%.
A big hit to revenues came from the distribution channels division which delivers distribution and marketing services to product providers. The division’s revenue reduced by 23% to £20.6m with the division being significantly impacted by Coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Adjusted earnings per share in the year amounted to 11.3 pence per share (2019: 12.9 pence per share).
The board has proposed a full year dividend in respect of 2020 of 2.85 pence per share.
Matt Timmins, Fintel's joint chief executive officer, said: "The importance and value of our embedded services for our customers enabled us to grow in our core membership services, fintech contracts and recommendations. We were delighted to receive increased customer engagement and satisfaction in the year – something we never take for granted at Fintel."
