PEARSON JONES MERGER WITH PARNELL FISHER CHILD

October 24, 2010

Wealth Manager Pearson Jones plc looks South with merger with Berkshire IFA

Successful Yorkshire-based wealth management business Pearson Jones plc is building on its track record of expansion by taking on sister company Parnell Fisher Child (PFC).

The transaction, which will add an extra £2.1 million in annual turnover and 18 more staff to Pearson Jones, completed on 4 October 2010. PFC, based in Hare Hatch near Reading, will retain its name.

Both currently subsidiaries of the Skipton Building Society Group, the transfer of control means the larger Pearson Jones will be able to support PFC in reaching its considerable potential, while maximising the positive synergies between the two businesses. It will also enable Pearson Jones to extend its award winning wealth management services to more customers, across a wider geographical area.

This latest union follows hot on the heels of Pearson Jones’s recent acquisition of  Pace Financial Solutions, Bishop Auckland, which has 12 staff and a £1.25m turnover.

Pearson Jones, which was founded in 1972, provides wealth management services including pensions and other retirement options, savings and investments, tax planning, life assurance, critical illness, health insurance, mortgages and re-mortgages. It currently holds the Society of  Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) International IFA Team of The Year title.

Pearson Jones Managing Director, Tim Johnson, says: “No one could accuse Pearson Jones plc of treading water during our time as STEP International IFA Team of The Year which has seen further development of one acquisition and completion of another.  Both are well-known wealth management businesses and are key additions to our team.

“Parnell Fisher Child is a highly-regarded wealth management business with a strong corporate and private client base.  This gives Pearson Jones our first office outside Yorkshire and the North East and a solid platform from which to develop our business in the South where we believe our service-orientated approach will do well.”

PFC Managing Director, Perry Rapley says: “As subsidiaries of Skipton Building Society, there is already a relationship between the two companies. We believe this merger will benefit our existing clients and put us in a position where we can promote our enhanced services to a wider range of potential customers.  It also comes before the new government addresses public sector cutbacks – after which we expect many businesses and private individuals, particularly in the south, to be paying even closer scrutiny to their financial affairs.”

Pearson Jones, which earlier this year announced annual profits of £805,000, also has offices in York and Sheffield and offers wealth management, mortgages, pensions and employee benefits, tax and trust planning. The company advises more than 2,000 private clients and 500 businesses with total funds under management of more than £2.7bn. The firm is one of only 285 IFA businesses – about one per cent – in the UK to be accredited Chartered Financial Planners by the Chartered Insurance Institute.