Applewood, which has a total of 16 staff members, was established in 1992 and is owned by managing director Karl Hartey and director Gillian Cowling. The firm has a turnover of approximately £1.7 million (around $2.74 million) per year, with funds under management of £90 million and a recurring income of £0.8 million.

The acquisition of Applewood Wealth Management is the sixth of 2010 by PFG with the expectation that at least two further purchases will be made before the end of the year. With these acquisitions Perspective’s annualised turnover is expected to increase to approximately £16 million; funds under advisory and management are £1.3 billion with recurring income now £8 million.

IFA aggregator businesses such as Perspective have been buying up financial advisory businesses, continuing a trend that industry watchers say is being driven by rising regulatory costs stemming from the upcoming Retail Distribution Review programme of the Financial Services Authority, the UK regulator. Such costs make it untenable for some small IFA firms to operate alone.

“It should now be clear to everyone within the IFA sector and beyond that we are building a substantial IFA group proposition at Perspective and our ambitions in no way begin and end here. We fully expect to complete on at least a further two acquisitions before the end of 2010 and our purchase pipeline is substantial for at least the next six months,” said Damian Keeling, managing director of PFG.