Management buyout secures future and integrity of award-winning finance business

New shareholders at the Hull office. From the left, Josh Richardson, Sarah Williams, Anjeanette Kemp, Joe Sanders and Jessica Crawford.

A management buyout has been implemented at East Yorkshire’s only firm of independent, chartered financial planners.

Eight shareholder employees at Informed Financial Planning make up the buyout team, six of whom qualified with the firm.

Founder and owner Kevin Ferriby is selling the majority shareholding to the employees over a period of time through a share scheme to ensure the longevity and continuing independence of the award-winning business. Mr Ferriby, who started IFP in 2004, will continue in the short term as managing director and will retain a minority stake, before moving to the position of chairman.

The employees involved are: chartered financial planners Gregg Crawford, John Copsey, Darren Goodall, Josh Richardson and Joe Sanders; head of business development, Jessica Crawford; head of compliance and technical, Anjeanette Kemp and head of finance and operations, Sarah Williams.

With offices in Hull, Leeds and Barnsley, the firm which has 31 staff has won numerous awards for its work including Money Marketing’s Adviser firm of the Year, Professional Adviser’s Best Financial Advisers to Work for 2021, and it has been one of New Model Adviser’s Top 100 UK IFA for seven successive years.

It also has a focus on encouraging the younger generation to plan for the future, and recently launched Informed Generation as a brand to make high quality financial services accessible and attractive to millennials and the Gen Z age groups.

Kevin Ferriby said of the buyout: “We have structured it to enable the people involved in the success of the business to take it forward, protecting our clients’ interests and retaining the spirit of the company. Nearly all of them have trained with us and risen through the ranks.

“Most competitors in similar positions have sold to larger corporations who are part of a network and therefore have lost their independent status, and I did not want this to happen.

“I am proud of what has been achieved, and of the team who make IFP what it is today.”

The six who qualified with IFP are Josh Richardson, Jessica Crawford, Gregg Crawford, Joe Sanders, Darren Goodall and John Copsey.

Josh Richardson said: “The diverse age range of the buyout team, from early 20s to early 60s, really adds value to the service we are able to offer our clients. It’s great to have the opportunity to be an integral part of the company and its future.”

Jessica Crawford was IFP’s first apprentice 12 years’ ago. She said that to become a shareholder in the business was an exciting step in her career. “The journey so far at IFP has been fantastic and the future looks really bright.”

As well as having corporate chartered status, all IFP’s financial planners have individual chartered status, achieved through sitting a broad range of exams and meeting a high standard of eligibility criteria.

A new board of directors will be announced in April.