Fintel, owner of SimplyBiz and Defaqto, saw revenues up 10% year on year to £31.7m in the first half of 2021.

EBITDA, seen as an indication of profitability, rose 12% to £8.3m (H1 2020: £7.4m) with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.1% (H1 2020: 25.5%).

Profit before tax was also up 12% to £6.0m (H1 2020: £5.4m).

However, earnings per share dropped 2% to 4.1p (H1 2020: 4.2p) due to one-off tax charges.

Matt Timmins, joint CEO of Fintel, said that the firm was looking for acquisitions.

He said: “We have significant financial resources to match our ambitions for the business, both in terms of accelerating organic growth and creating value through acquisitions.”

Mr Timmins added that Fintel has made “significant strategic progress” in the first half of the year.

Changes for the first half of the year included the sale of its non-core employee benefits Zest arm and signing its largest ever fintech contract in a partnership that includes the disposal of the Verbatim funds.

The firm said it “realised excellent value” from the £10m sale of Zest and that its new “distribution as a service” offering is off to an excellent start.

Fintel’s new ‘Distribution as a Service’(DaaS) solution provides fund managers with data and insights on consumer preferences.

Last week Fintel announced that it is to partner with Tatton Asset Management to provide a new range of services for adviser firms. 

Tatton will license Fintel’s adviser technology and acquire its Verbatim fund ranges. Tatton will also license Defaqto’s Financial Planning solution ‘Defaqto Engage’ for its adviser firms.

The Verbatim multi-asset and multi-index funds will add about £650m to Tatton Investment Management’s AUM and extends its IFA relationships by over 800 firms.

Tatton has also engaged Fintel’s new ‘Distribution as a Service’(DaaS) solution which provides fund managers with data and insights on consumer preferences.

The firms says the distribution deal allows Fintel to utilise its relatively recent acquisition of Defaqto by developing a, “new era of fintech and distribution propositions at an enterprise level.”

Tatton will also be able to expand its range of investment solutions to new advisers and clients.

The partnership will see a new Enterprise version of Fintel’s adviser platform, Defaqto Engage, built for Tatton’s adviser firms. Defaqto Engage is a suite of Financial Planning software.

The Fintel board intends to pay an interim dividend of 1.0p per share, on or around 4 November.