Many adviser equity offerings fail to materialise

Many equity offerings to advisers by advice firms and dealer groups never materialise, according to Dennis Bashford, managing director of Brisbane-based dealer group Futuro Financial Services.

“There are a lot of equity offerings in our industry but not a lot of them ever come to fruition and many of them out there go way past their use by date, Bashford said.

He pointed to some dealer groups firms (which he did not want named) that are “currently facing down issues with their advisers predicated on non-delivery of equity within the business”.

Meanwhile, he said, Futuro has used this growing industry issue to its benefit by “ensuring the integrity and attractiveness” of its equity offering to its advisers.

“Our offer has resulted in 40 per cent of its member advisers owning equity in our business, and we have a finite timeframe on the offer.”

Bashford believes the offer has been instrumental in driving the group’s adviser complement to 90 in its 45 national practices – up from 65 a year ago.

At the same time, its funds under management has grown from $1.4 billion to probably up around the $2 billion mark, he said.

He anticipated the adviser complement would be around the 100 mark by the end of the year, as a result of “our efforts to set ourselves up to do well in the bad times”.