Tavistock axes Titan deal over 'unacceptable performance'
Berkshire Financial Planner Tavistock has terminated its 10-year strategic investment partnership with Titan Wealth, blaming “unacceptable performance.”
The surprise announcement about the tie-up agreed in June 2021 was issued to the stock market late on Monday.
In the announcement Tavistock said: "This follows a sustained period of unacceptable performance by Titan."
It added: “It is the board's expectation that the final sums due under the agreement will be received in due course and further updates will be made as appropriate.”
Ascot-based Tavistock has suffered losses in recent times and has been reviewing future strategy, although it recently said it had seen some improvement financially.
Last month it confirmed that it was considering “a number of potential transactions” including a bid from rival Financial Planner Saltus for part of its business.
Earlier in June Tavistock executive chairman Oliver Cooke moved from an executive chair role to become non-exec chair.
Last October Tavistock reported better trading after previously making a loss of nearly £1m. In its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2023 the firm said revenue was up 19% compared to same period the previous year to £20.6m (H1 2022: £17.3m).
The previous year the group reaped a windfall profit of £30.67m after the sale of its investment arm Tavistock Wealth to Titan Wealth in August 2021 for an initial sum of £20m.
The company revealed in its interim results at the time that it had completed its review of all British Steel Defined Benefit Pension Transfer cases with “minimal uninsured cost being incurred.” It did not disclose the cost of rectifying any BSPS cases.
Despite its struggles Tavistock has continued to make acquisitions. In April last year the company acquired Precise Protect, a UK-wide protection business based in Bangor, Northern Ireland, which it expected to be a major contributor to the future profitability of the group and has been integrated into the business.
Following the transaction, Tavistock now has a network of more than 400 advisers and other business introducers working with more than 110,000 UK retail clients with total assets estimated to be more than £6bn, as well as 350 corporate and affinity clients with some 16,000 employees.