WT Financial announces second advice firm ‘Hubco’, profit up 21%

On Thursday, WT Financial announced its second “Hubco”, which will see Select Advice Group – a firm with offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – and Newleaf Tailored Financial Solutions in Brisbane.

WT Financial and Merchant Wealth Partners announced the WTL & MWP Investco Pty Ltd (Investco) joint venture in March, with a goal to provide strategic growth capital to “high-potential financial advice practices across Australia”.

On formation of the latest Hubco, Investco will hold around 36 per cent of the entity and WT Financial will hold 6 per cent directly. The remainder will be held by existing Select and Newleaf shareholders, who will retain majority ownership.

According to the statement, the capital contribution is valued at around $7.8 million.

“This structure provides a strong platform for further targeted acquisitions to be originated and coordinated by WT Financial under mandate,” the WT Financial release said.

“Select principal Eric Bohl will serve as Hubco2 chief executive. He and fellow shareholder Declan Doolan will continue to advise clients and drive organic and M&A growth.”

It also provided an update on the first Hubco, which was formed from a trio of advice firms in April and has now been incorporated as Titan Advice Group (TAG).

Bringing together Titan Financial Planning, Darwin Financial & Retirement Services, and Wealth Connect Financial Services, TAG will have Titan principal David McLean as its chief executive and Merchant’s David Haintz as non-executive chairman.

With the company now finalised as TAG, its first move has been to acquire a Queensland-based advice firm, Rushby Financial, at a valuation of $2.8 million with settlement targeted for 1 October 2025.

Rushby principal Richard Rushby will remain in the business post-completion to advise clients, drive organic growth and mentor new advisers.

“Through Investco, we’re building a scalable platform, with each Hubco becoming a launchpad for further acquisitions and operational efficiencies that will enable advisers to thrive,” said WT Financial and Investco managing director Keith Cullen.

“The strength of our model is in partnering with ambitious advice practices, providing them with patient capital in partnership with Merchant Wealth, and supporting them to grow and corporatise without sacrificing their entrepreneurial character. We have a very powerful combination that we believe will deliver exceptional long-term value creation – for both the practices we partner with and WT Financial shareholders alike.”

Also announced this week, WT Financial has reported a 21 per cent increase in underlying net profit before tax to $5.4 million for FY24–25, up from $4.5 million in FY23–24.

Revenue and other income for the underlying business was up 16.5 per cent to $216.1 million, while direct cost of sales was $195 million (FY23–24 $167.4 million), resulting in gross profit expected to be up by 17.2 per cent to $21.1 million.