Since acquiring Diverger, a major player in Australia’s financial services landscape, accounting and wealth services provider Count (ASX: CUP) has been recording major cost synergy benefits.
The Company has noted that annualised expected cost savings from the integrated wealth management business have been upgraded to about $4 million. This will be achieved in FY25. The new savings forecast represents an increase from the initial $3 million expectation announced at the time of the transaction.
Count CEO Hugh Humphrey commented, “Following this acquisition, Count cemented its position as one of Australia’s leading integrated accounting and wealth services providers with over 500 accountants and 550 financial advisers in our national community. The synergies we’ve identified so far will ensure we can continue to operate more efficiently, delivering better outcomes for our shareholders, member firms and clients.”
Count is an Australia-based network of professional accounting and advice companies that provide accounting and related services. The Company provides services, including accounting, financial advice and broader financial services.
Through Diverger, Count offers technical support, tax training, separately managed accounts (SMAs) and information technology (IT) services.
After almost a year of negotiations, on March 1, Count announced that it had completed the acquisition of Diverger following court approval. The acquisition was worth a total cash and scrip consideration of $45.3 million. And it helped create a diversified financial services company focused on wealth management.
Its network now represents over 590 accountants, more than 550 financial advisers and an expanded suite of services. Combined revenues for FY23 exceed $129 million, and the Group has funds under advice (FUA) of $29.9 billion.
In H1 FY24, Count’s revenue saw a 6% uptick on PCP to $47.9 million, driven by both organic and acquisitive growth. Its Underlying EBITA was up by 9% to $5.4 million, up from PCP’s $4.9 million, mainly attributable to improved EBITA margins of 21.4% in the Accounting segment. During this period, the Company completed seven acquisitions.
Over the past year, it has been on somewhat of an acquisition spree.
An important strategic driver for the Diverger acquisition was Count’s expansion of its services segment by adding Knowledge Shop, TaxBanter, and Priority Networking to its existing businesses, Accurium and the recently acquired Solutions Centric.
Following the first half, Count acquired 51% of Solutions Centric, an Australian company that provides offshore accounting, tax and SMSF services out of India. The acquisition expands Count’s Services segment proposition to complement existing group services. It expanded its Gold Coast client base with a $1.4 million Jonathan Grant Accountants (JGA) acquisition. It also purchased the accounting client books of Business Accounting Melbourne and May Klye & Associates.
Humphrey added, “Our people have moved quickly and worked hard to integrate the businesses and realise tangible benefits. I’m grateful for the hard work of the team to successfully complete the transaction, integrate the businesses smoothly and make doing business easier for all our business partners.”
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
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