Sequoia prioritizes organic growth for FY24-25

At its 2024 annual general meeting on November 20, the financial services company and advisory licensee confirmed its key strategic initiatives. This includes:

• Sale of non-core businesses and rationalization of existing processes.
• We continue to invest in technologies that lead to greater efficiency.
• Restructure the Sequoia Specialist Investments/Media businesses to increase revenue.
• Leveraging its strong balance sheet to focus on growth initiatives.
• Organic increase in licensee services market share.
• Increasing market share in the legal and administrative services business.

In a presentation last month, Sequoia CEO Garry Crole said investing in expanding its higher-margin, salaried consulting business was an increased focus for the licensee.

Similarly, the company noted at its annual general meeting that it was among the only three major licensees to increase its advisor numbers in the 2023-24 financial year, despite overall advisor numbers declining.

“The near-term growth focus of this (consulting) division will be to increase the size of our employed businesses. Demand for financial advice is increasing as the over-65 population increases, while per capita advice provided to Australian families increases.”

Wealth Data recently published an updated ranking of the The 10 largest licensees in AustraliaAs of November 7, 2024, Sequoia ranked eighth with 339 advisors, while AMP Group was at the top with 809 advisors.

Sequoia said its market share in legal and administrative services continued to increase to around 10 percent in a highly fragmented industry, providing a consolidation opportunity for further organic growth.

Its customer base of 1,200 accounting firms using Sequoia for their legal documents, representing 11.4 percent of the addressable market, represents an attractive customer base for upselling, it said.

“This customer base enables the sale of additional products and services to increase sales and margins.”

Earlier this year the company was the subject of a shareholder defeat, with a group of shareholders attempting to bring in two new board members, Peter Brook and Brent Jones, to replace Crole and director Kevin Pattison.

At an extraordinary general meeting in June, shareholders were unsuccessful in their plans, but Sequoia committed to making changes to its business to address shareholder concerns.

These changes included streamlining the current operating business model, streamlining the divisional business structure, being open to divestiture opportunities for non-core businesses, and increasing scrutiny of underperforming businesses.