The London-listed firm said revenue climbed to £111.2m, up 2.8%.

It said business development initiatives resulted in a 15% rise in the value of new clients. New business rose 16% compared to the previous year, the company said.

Ian Mattioli MBE, chief executive, said: "The last few years have been complex for our clients. This has reinforced our commitment to putting clients first and developing our service offering.

“We are building a business that is sustainable and ethical, but resilient over the long term.”

However he added that the profit figure had been offset by inflationary increases in administrative expenditure.

Looking ahead Mr Mattioli said: "We expect the current macroeconomic conditions and recent legislative changes to drive continued demand for high quality advice as we expand capacity within our adviser training academy to train a greater number of advisers each year, seeking to capitalise on the current 'advice gap' and drive strong organic growth in our financial planning and specialist pension consultancy businesses.”

He said the business is progressing other strategic initiatives, including the roll-out of its new, group-wide client relationship management system Xplan.

Mr Mattioli said: “The implementation of Consumer Duty regulations brings a welcome focus to the value that clients derive from the various services we offer and accords with our principles of integrity and professionalism.”

He mentioned the continuing high level of M&A activity in the wealth and asset management sector including the company’s acquisition of Doherty and its investment in White during the year.

He added: “We have a strong pipeline of bolt-on acquisition opportunities to assess, as well as potentially more substantial opportunities in the longer term. We plan to build on our track record of successful acquisitions by continuing to assess and progress opportunities that meet our strict criteria.”