Openwork triples operating profit to £5m
Openwork has tripled its operating profit to more than £5m following a strong year in which it continued to grow revenue and enhance its proposition in key areas.
Openwork, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, made an operating profit of £5.5m in 2014, an increase of more than 230% on 2013 when it posted a profit of £1.7m. The business’s performance in 2014 means it has achieved three consecutive years of profitability after making significant losses in the years following its inception in 2005.
Openwork, which grew its revenue by more than 5% last year, made a number of important strides in 2014. These included finalising a deal to take on hundreds of protection advisers from MetLife, taking the number of advisers in the wider network to around 3,000 while broadening Openwork’s client proposition in this space.
Openwork’s range of multi-asset model portfolios, comprising sector funds managed on a mandate basis by asset managers including Schroders, Jupiter and Threadneedle, attracted nearly £1bn of new investment in the course of 2014 despite only launching in February. The assets in Omnis overall now exceed £2.5bn.
Openwork also moved into new offices in both London and Swindon in 2014 in a sign of the business’s long-term commitment to the adviser market.
Commenting on the 2014 results, Openwork CEO Mark Duckworth said: “That we are able to announce a dramatic rise in operating profit for 2014 is testament to both the strength of our enhanced proposition and the hard work our advisers have put in across all areas of financial advice.
“2014 was a milestone year for Openwork in a number of important ways. We strengthened our commitment to closing the protection gap with the acquisition of more than 700 specialist advisers, and saw around £1bn of new assets flow into our investment company Omnis.
“With the enhancements we have made to our proposition, we have a fantastic base from which to grow the business while helping our advisers continue to deliver the highest standards of advice to their customers.”