Mattioli Woods, the wealth and asset management business, said in an AGM statement that its gross assets under management have fallen 7.3% to £4.7 billion in the first four months of the current year “driven by market performance.”

Mattioli Woods said its private equity business has “a strong pipeline of deals planned for future introduction to the group’s qualifying clients” but that “given current market sentiment, the timing of such deals remains under regular review for current and future years.”

Mattioli Woods is based in Leicester and has offices throughout the UK including Manchester, Preston, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and London.

At the AGM, 19.3% of votes cast were against the motion to approve the directors’ remuneration report.

“In September, we were pleased to report both revenue and earnings growth for the year ended 31 May 2022, reflecting both continued organic growth and the positive impact of acquisitions made during the last two years, despite the difficult market backdrop throughout the period …” Mattioli Woods chairman David Kiddie told the AGM.

“Against a backdrop of market volatility and proactive engagement from our advisers, we have seen sustained demand for advice from clients, underpinning further organic revenue growth in our pensions and advice business.

“This has been supported by strong new business generation, with 289 new clients choosing to use Mattioli Woods during the year to date and recent business development initiatives increasing our enquiry pipeline compared to the prior year.

“We continue to seek opportunities to provide solutions at all stages of our current and new clients’ financial planning journeys and recently launched our MWise platform which offers a simplified online advice journey and creates a new opportunity to engage with our clients.  

“This is supported by a range of new passive portfolios which are already gaining traction with over £2m invested in these new portfolios to date.

“Our private equity business continues to perform and integrate well with a strong pipeline of deals planned for future introduction to the group’s qualifying clients. Given current market sentiment, the timing of such deals remains under regular review for current and future years.

“In comparison to organic revenue growth in our pensions advice business, market stability and investor confidence continue to be impacted by the wider economic and political uncertainties.  

“Given the market context, client asset values and the investment related revenues linked to these continue to be challenged.  

“In the first four months of the current year, gross assets under management reduced by 7.3% to £4.7bn driven by market performance, which is reflected in the group’s investment and asset management related revenues.

“All our teams continue to actively monitor and manage investment markets so that we both continue to create good client outcomes, and balance investment revenues against increased advisory revenues.

“We are committed to growing our dividend in a responsible manner, while maintaining an appropriate level of dividend cover.  

“As previously announced, the board will propose a final dividend of 17.8p per share (2021: 13.5p) at today’s meeting, which makes a proposed total dividend for the year ended 31 May 2022 of 26.1p (2021: 21.0p).  

“We recognise and appreciate the huge effort made by our people over this period and their contribution to delivering these results.  In line with our desire to balance the interests of all stakeholders, we recently paid year-end bonuses in respect of the financial year ended 31 May 2022 to all staff.”