Towry cites Edward Jones integration for £7.5m loss

Wealth adviser Towry has announced a loss of £7.5m for 2010, citing the “exceptional cost” of integrating Edward Jones into the business.

Towry attributed the net loss of £7.5m - compared to a profit of £16.3m in 2009 - to exceptional costs totalling £17.7m, of which £15.1m related to the integration of Edward Jones, which it acquired in 2009.

However, because Towry had recorded an exceptional profit in 2009 of £12.9m on the acquisition of Edward Jones, the overall net cost of acquisition and integration was just £2.2m, it said.

According to the wealth manager's accounts for 2010, Towry saw a 45% increase in revenue to £79.4m and a 56% increase in EBITDA to £16.1m (2009: £10.3m).

The firm also saw discretionary assets under management increase 44% from £2.9bn to £4.2bn.

Last year, the firm got into hot water over delays in the transfer of assets belonging to former clients of Edward Jones onto platforms including Ascentric and Transact.

Meanwhile, Towry has also announced the appointment of Sally James, currently chair of UBS Ltd's Audit Committee, as non-executive director to strengthen its board.

Chief executive Andrew Fisher (pictured) said: "Last year was a year of record income, assets under management and earnings.

"Going into 2011, our business model is fully compliant with the requirements of the RDR while, today, two-thirds of our current client team is qualified to QCF Level 4 or above, and all our advisers will have attained this level by the end of 2012."