Wealth manager and Financial Planner Evelyn Partners suffered a near £5bn drop in Assets Under Management in 2022 as market turmoil hit figures, the firm’s full year results out today show.

Assets Under Management fell by £4.7bn from £57.7bn to £53bn, a pattern seen by many wealth managers and platforms in 2022.

Gross new money fell from £6bn to £5.4bn and Net new money fell from £2.5bn to £2.3bn.

Group operating income rose 7.1% to a record level of £600.8 million (2021: £560.8 million) while adjusted EBITDA, a measure of profit, fell to £184.3 million (2021: £188.4 million)

Despite the falls in many areas, the company said it achieved “continued momentum” in new business, a record level of operating income and a “resilient” adjusted EBITDA.

The firm has continued to recruit with headcount increasing 11.2% to 3,600.

The firm is continuing to look for acquisitions and recently completed the acquisition of Leathers LLP, a firm of Chartered Accountants and tax specialists with offices in Newcastle and Harrogate.

Evelyn, formed by the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson, also managed to make progress with its strategic priorities it said, including its rebrand to Evelyn Partners, its digital and operational transformation and boosting its service offering.

During the year Evelyn relaunched Bestinvest as a hybrid service in May 2022 with a new website and enhanced features. Bestinvest offers the ability to book virtual meetings with coaches or purchase fixed cost advice packages. Evelyn said the format was proving "popular" with clients.

The firm also made progress on its transformation programme. It migrated 12,000 clients to its new new integrated financial services platform, Alpha, and now has over £33 billion of assets on the platform.

In 2022 the firm also relocated more than 1,600 staff in London to a new head office at 45 Gresham Street. It also relocated staff to new offices in Birmingham and Newcastle and opened a new office in Brighton.

The firm’s initiative to provide financial advisers approaching retirement with an opportunity to find a new home for their clients - the Retiring IFA (RIFA) programme - saw a further six firms joining Evelyn bringing the total to eight.

Chris Woodhouse, group chief executive, said: “The group delivered a resilient financial performance in 2022, against a backdrop of challenging macroeconomic conditions and volatile markets. This is a testament to the strength of our business model, the value our clients place on expert advice, and the commitment of our people.

“The continued strength of our Financial Services and Professional Services businesses helped contribute to a record operating income of £600.8 million for the year. We generated £5.4 billion of gross new money, representing 9.4% of opening assets, while net flows were also positive at £2.3 billion.

“Adjusted EBITDA, which reflects the cash profitability of the business, was £184.3 million, a slight decrease on the prior year which was our best year ever. This was principally due to the impact of weaker markets, as well as continued investment in people to support future growth with headcount increasing 11.2% to 3,600 at year end. Our industry-leading adjusted EBITDA margin remains strong at 30.7%.

“Although economic headwinds remain, inflation is expected to continue to slow, and equity markets have had an encouraging start to 2023. As an advice-led firm with strength and scale in Financial Planning and both private client and business tax advisory expertise, we are particularly well placed to help clients navigate the changes to the UK tax regime set out in the Autumn Statement, alongside the ability to manage their investment portfolios. We expect this to drive continued strong demand for our expertise over the coming year and beyond.”