Broker boost fuels MA Financial FY22 result

The ASX-listed financial services group has released its financial results for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 (FY22).

The results, released on Thursday (23 February), show “record underlying revenue”, up 41 per cent on FY21 to $302 million and “record underlying earnings” per share (EPS), which was up 29 per cent on FY21 to 38.3 cents (statutory EPS up 26 per cent to 28.0 cents).

FY22 gross fund inflows of $1.5 billion were driven by “strong flows into credit funds” and assets under management (AUM) were up 13 per cent on FY21 to $7.8 billion ($8.0bn in Feb-23), MA Financial confirmed.

Ultimately, underlying revenue of $301.8 million was up 41 per cent on FY21 driven by “a strong performance by the group’s asset-management business,” MA Financial confirmed.

The group announced dividends up 18 per cent to 20 cents per share (CPS) in financial results for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 (FY22) on Thursday (23 February).

Fellow joint CEO Julian Biggins and Mr Wyke explained: “We are very pleased with how the business has performed, delivering a record financial result in 2022 alongside continued investment into future growth.

“This performance reflects our deliberate strategy to build a diversified business that can grow through market cycles.

“Particularly pleasing is the growth and performance of the credit investing business,” the duo noted.

“Client inflows into credit funds almost doubled to $1.1 billion in 2022.

“Our expertise in originating and management of credit assets has proved attractive with clients seeking to benefit from higher yielding investment funds,” they continued.

“We believe credit fund investing will continue to benefit from structural and demographic growth drivers for some time yet,” the CEOs assessed.

Finsure continues to grow

Notably, the aggregation arm of the group, Finsure, grew substantially over the year.

Finsure managed loans were up 37 per cent on FY21 to $91 billion, the group reported.

There are now 350,000 borrowers, over 80 lenders, and more than 4,500 products on offer via Finsure, the financial services firm has confirmed.

Contributing to the result was the fact that Finsure welcomed more than 500 brokers to its fold in 2022, taking broker members to 2,640 brokers.

The group’s ongoing ‘strategic development of a vibrant residential lending marketplace’ within the lending and technology division “significantly increased its reach and expertise,” it outlined.

The group heads explained that the successful integration of aggregator Finsure and the acquisition of the remaining 52.5 per cent of residential mortgage lender MKM — before its restructure and rebrand to MA Money last November — materially grew scale “in this important business.”

Joint chief executive at MAF, Chris Wyke, commented specifically on the Finsure-derived achievement: “Under our ownership, Finsure’s performance in the year exceeded expectations, growing broker numbers by 24 per cent to 2,640 and increasing its managed loans by 37 per cent, from $66.5 billion to $91.0 billion.

“There are now 350,000 borrowers, over 80 lenders, and more than 4,500 products on offer. 

“Following the acquisition, we also invested significantly in our residential mortgage lender, MA Money, boosting the range of residential loan products and services on offer to drive growth.

“We have already secured $20 million of loan settlements in the first three weeks of February and over $80 million of applications currently outstanding.

“Our strategy is to create a tech-enabled, highly scalable lending ecosystem that generates fee-based income, spread income, and delivers primary origination investment product to our managed funds.

“This is consistent with our overall strategy of being a builder of valuable businesses in large addressable markets.” 

[Related: Finsure founder appointed to BNK board]