Lighthouse Group sees good growth in revenue and earnings

National financial adviser Lighthouse Group announced its final audited results for the year ended 31 December on Tuesday, with revenues up 13% to £54m.

The AIM-traded company said recurring revenues generated from clients rose 14% over the prior year to £25m, while its EBITDA improved 27% to £2.8m.

Profit before tax increased 32% to £2.5m over the 2016 year.

Lighthouse noted that new business from affinity relationships was 79% higher than the prior year at £5.2m, with total revenues from affinity relationships up 41% to £9.6m.·

A total of 21 affinity contracts were now in place, up from 19 at the end of 2016, with two new wins and two other contracts renewed.

Average revenue production per adviser increased 23% to £122,000.

At year-end, Lighthouse’s net cash balances totalled £8.7m, up marginally from £8.1m, with the firm’s operating cash flow generation reaching £1.4m after an investment of £0.7m in customer solution development.

That figure was £0.7m in 2016, also after a £0.7m investment was expensed.

The board confirmed an interim dividend of 0.12p per share, up from 0.09p, had been paid, with its final dividend of 0.30p per share rising from 0.18p.

That would make for an increase for the full year of 55%.

Assets under management in Luceo Asset Management investment solutions totalled £37m through five funds at year-end, the board confirmed, rising from £4m through three funds in 2016.

“Lighthouse has continued to progress in 2017 and has delivered an excellent set of results, driven entirely by organic growth and a particularly pleasing performance in the affinity business,” commented chairman Richard Last.

“The substantial rise in average annualised revenue per adviser was a key factor in achieving a 13% increase in revenues.

“This, along with a reduction in operating costs flowing from the group's continuing focus on providing good customer outcomes, resulted in a substantial increase in earnings.”

Last said Lighthouse remained “well-positioned” to deliver further growth.