Brooks Macdonald Group plc (BRK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to Brooks Macdonald's Full year results for 2026. Two years ago, when I became CEO, I made a clear commitment to reignite growth and restore the ambition that defines this business. Our strategy is working, and this success has been made possible because of our clients, our people and our shareholders. We've fundamentally changed the business and have built a human-led, digitally enabled wealth manager. We are already known and chosen for our client service. We're in a trusted position in people's lives, providing them with peace of mind and financial security. Prioritizing our clients and their needs translates into business results. This year, we have returned to positive net flows. We've delivered record FUMA of GBP 21.7 billion and revenue growth across the business. Net flows are up GBP 600 million since last year with 3 consecutive quarters of positive and expanding net flows. Platform NPS FUM is up 35% and BPS FUM is up 9%. What's made this possible? A laser focus on client service, client reach and efficiency backed by investment in people, distribution and AI while continuing to deliver excellent investment performance. 2 years ago, we were clear to the market that the business needed significant investment in order to grow. The bulk of that is now complete, and it is already driving flows, and it creates a powerful foundation to capture the significant market opportunity ahead. I'm glad to say we're now in a much stronger business than we were before. We've changed our distribution strategy to enable our people to serve more clients across the U.K. We've launched new products that clients need and want, and we've integrated 6 businesses into Brooks Financial, a firm recognized for high-quality financial advice. That transformation is real. The momentum is building and the best is yet to come. I'll come back to strategy shortly. Firstly, though, Katherine will take us through the financial performance in more detail.

Thank you, Andrea, and good morning, everyone. Let me start with the financial highlights. Full year '26 was a year of strong strategic and financial progress for the group. We delivered record FUMA, returned to positive net flows and continue to grow our financial planning business while maintaining cost discipline and delivering efficiency benefits across the organization. Revenue increased by 6%, underlying costs reduced by 3% on a like-for-like basis. Underlying profit before tax was GBP 29 million, equivalent to earnings per share of 137.9p, up 6% versus full year '25. And the Board has recommended a final dividend of 52p per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 83p per share, up 2.5%, in line with our progressive dividend policy. Now moving on to the detail and starting with funds under management and advice. Total FUMA increased 14% to GBP 21.7 billion during the year. And within that, total FUM increased 17% to GBP 19.3 billion. This growth includes market and investment performance, which contributed GBP 2.5 billion, outperforming the industry benchmark. BPS FUM increased 9% and platform MPS FUM increased 35% Assets under advice increased to GBP 5.7 billion compared to GBP 5.3 billion a year ago, reflecting continued growth in our financial planning business. Now turning to flows. We generated net inflows of GBP 226 million during the year, a more than GBP 600 million improvement versus full year '25 and our first positive net flows since 2023. Platform NPS growth remains strong with over GBP 900 million of net inflows and an annualized growth rate of 15%. And it is particularly pleasing to see the improvement in BPS, where net outflows have improved by around 50% compared with full year '25, reflecting the positive impact of our client engagement and distribution initiatives and the benefit from the investment we have made to strengthen our presence in the regions. Importantly, the trajectory of net flows improved consistently throughout the year, and that momentum provides a solid foundation as we move into full year '27. Now moving on to revenue. Total revenue increased 6%. The increase in fee income was primarily driven by higher average FUM during the year and notably, MPS revenue increased by 16% year-on-year. Financial planning revenue benefited from a full year of the acquired businesses and increased 10% on a like-for-like basis. As expected, transaction and interest income were both lower than the prior year, reflecting lower levels of trading activity and lower average interest rates. However, our revenue streams are increasingly diversified and the platform for future growth is clear with almost 40% of the business now delivering double-digit revenue growth. Looking ahead, we have entered full year '27 with record FUMA, and I expect the revenue trends for fee income yields and financial planning that we have seen in full year '26 to continue into full year '27. Now turning to look at the individual business lines in more detail. BPS FUM increased 9%, supported by strong investment performance and the improvement in net outflows. Average BPS FUM increased only moderately due to the impact of market movements on and around quarterly billing dates, but the higher level of FUM at year-end provides momentum going into full year '27. Fee income yields remained resilient at around 60 basis points. And as a result, full year '26 revenue before transaction income was in line with full year '25. The lower transaction income I mentioned on the previous slide is the primary driver of the reduction in overall BPS revenue year-on-year that you can see on the right-hand chart here. Now turning to MPS. Total MPS FUM increased by 30% to almost GBP 9 billion. Platform MPS was the standout performer, achieving FUM growth of 35% through a combination of strong net flows and investment performance. Revenue increased 16% to GBP 16.7 million, supported by substantially higher average assets under management. As expected, average yields moderated slightly due to the mix within the MPS portfolio. We delivered relatively stronger growth in the FUM of our passive MPS range and business-to-business relationships, both of which are typically slightly lower margin, but this was more than offset by the strong growth in assets. Now moving on to financial planning. The success of our inorganic investment in Brooks Financial is clear. Through the acquisitions, we added GBP 17 million of revenue and GBP 3 million of profit before tax on an annualized basis. And from there, we increased financial planning revenue by 10% on a like-for-like basis. We added over GBP 1 million of platform MPS revenue, which is booked separately in fee income and that you saw on the previous slide, and we delivered GBP 1.3 million of cost synergies, outperforming our GBP 1 million target. Brooks Financial now represents 25% of group revenue. The revenue margin has increased to 52.8 basis points and 58% of assets are now advised and managed compared to 51% a year ago, supporting the strategic rationale for the acquisitions we have made. I'm delighted with the progress and the opportunity going into full year '27. Now moving on to underlying costs. Consistent with previous reporting periods, I have presented full year '25, including the full year impact of the acquired businesses to allow for a more meaningful comparison. On a like-for-like basis, underlying costs reduced by 3%. The movements in the period include salary inflation and variable pay increases of GBP 1.6 million, cost savings delivered during the period of GBP 8.3 million, which include GBP 1.3 million of integration synergies, GBP 3.3 million of savings through organizational restructuring throughout the year, equivalent to around GBP 5 million on an annualized basis and GBP 1 million of nonstaff cost savings, including renegotiating key contracts and consolidating our third-party supplier base. Finally, costs increased by GBP 4 million to support business growth, primarily through increased capability and capacity, including senior investment and distribution hires, which also strengthened our presence in the regions. And we enhanced our client engagement activity through nationwide events and grew our brand awareness through key sponsorship partnerships and marketing initiatives. We have reshaped the cost base to allow investment in revenue focus areas within the business and have built a scalable platform, which has supported the return to net flows and positions us well for future revenue growth. Going into full year '27, we remain committed to our medium-term target of BAU cost growth below 5%. Now turning to look at the cash position. We ended the year with cash and liquid assets of GBP 25 million, broadly in line with the half year position at 31 December. We generated GBP 26.7 million of operating cash flow post tax from underlying business performance in the year. In addition, we received GBP 9.3 million of fees following the transition of our client fee payments from quarterly to monthly as part of our commitment to excellent client service. This means our IFAs receive their income more regularly, and it removes some of the impact that market volatility can have on their payments. We also benefited from this transition with a one-off acceleration of the fee income for April and May, which would previously have been received post year-end under the previous billing cadence. We returned almost GBP 16 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. You'll remember that at the half year, I described the investments we are making in order to drive net flows, meet client needs with new products and services, expand our financial planning business through M&A and deliver efficiency savings. It is pleasing to see that the investments we have made are already starting to deliver these results. In total, we invested GBP 9.1 million in developing our products and propositions as well as digital and AI initiatives. In particular, we modernized our NPS structure with our new building blocks approach to broaden investment capability and better support client outcomes. We launched Brooks Macdonald's strategic partnerships, which is giving real momentum in flows and tangible progress in building meaningful new client relationships. We have deployed AI and advanced technology solutions to improve productivity and increase operational effectiveness. And we have continued to invest in digital capabilities to improve the experience for advisers and clients, including simpler onboarding journeys, enhanced self-service capability and improved service accessibility. We incurred GBP 5.1 million of costs in relation to organizational restructuring, which has delivered annualized savings of GBP 5 million. We also capitalized GBP 12.6 million, the majority of which was incurred in H1 and included property relocation costs. During H2, we have focused investment on the automation of manual processes and the development of enhanced MI and reporting capabilities, providing more timely insights and supporting stronger performance management. We invested GBP 19.4 million in M&A and integration activity, which included the deferred consideration payments for Lucas Fettes and LIFT as well as integration and other M&A-related costs. We have made deliberate investments to transform the business and are pleased that this is already translating into real results. Looking ahead, we intend to continue to invest selectively in initiatives, which will further develop our proposition and digital capabilities. I expect organic investment in full year '27 to reduce materially versus full year '26 to high single-digit millions split across our 3 strategic priorities. We also expect to receive net deferred consideration in respect of the previous transaction of GBP 10 million to GBP -- our capital position reflects similar movements, which I have included in the appendix. We ended the year with a healthy capital excess over regulatory requirements and internal buffers. So to conclude, full year '26 was a year of significant progress. We delivered record FUMA supported by strong market performance and a return to positive net flows. BPS FUM grew 9%, MPS FUM increased 30% and revenues continued to grow strongly. And financial planning now represents around 25% of group revenues. We delivered meaningful efficiency benefits, captured integration synergies and maintained strong cost discipline while continuing to invest in growth and capability. We have also deployed cash and capital deliberately to modernize the business, enhance client outcomes and improve future efficiency. Looking ahead, we remain confident in the opportunity before us and our ability to deliver against our strategic objectives. In particular, we remain focused on achieving our medium-term target of annualized net inflows of 5% and maintain BAU cost growth below 5%. And with that, I will hand you back to Andrea.

So now let's look at our strategy, the progress we've made this year and our priorities for 2027. The reignite growth strategy was necessary. When I took the role 2 years ago, our clients told me they value the personal touch and the quality of our people, but there was a gap between that and the experience we delivered. We had systems and processes from a different era with no digital choice for our clients. We've now refreshed our product range to ensure we're meeting the full breadth of our clients' needs, not just for today but for the future. And we've meaningfully invested in our data and technology, giving our clients genuine digital choice and allowing us to serve them more efficiently, more effectively and more personally than ever before. We're now increasingly seeing the returns from that investment and the heavy lifting is behind us. We sold our international business to increase focus on the U.K. and established a new business, Brooks Financial, with a commitment to independent financial advice. We have a clear emphasis on shareholder value, and we've returned around GBP 35 million over the last 2 years to shareholders as well as moving to the main market. The progress we've made against our strategic priorities has been substantial, and it's been made possible by investing in the right places at the right time. Over the last 12 months, AI and technology have already made a real difference. We're onboarding clients faster, cutting out unnecessary admin and giving our people more time where it matters most with clients. And our clients now have genuine choice in how they engage with us. Our distribution and investment management teams are working as one with stronger regional teams building deeper relationships with the clients we're here to serve. I'm excited about our new AI-enabled CRM, not just for today, but for what it makes possible tomorrow. Supporting families across generations and helping manage the transfer of wealth is a significant opportunity and an important element of our next phase of growth. Our move to building block investment approach for MPS gives greater flexibility, operational efficiencies for advisers and more control for clients over their tax planning. We've now got the capabilities to further build scale and integrate more financial planning businesses. Here are the KPIs we measure against our 3 strategic pillars. You can already see the impact of the progress we've made. We've delivered material growth in FUMA with clients over GBP 1 million now representing 60% of the BPS portfolio. We maintained a disciplined approach to costs and have delivered above-budget synergies from the Brooks Financial integration. I'm particularly pleased that as well as successfully integrating the businesses, Brooks Financial grew revenues by 10%. So we've now integrated our distribution and investment management teams, and it's already making a difference. We've made a deliberate choice to concentrate on 3 key segments of the U.K. IFA market, and we're focused on where we can make the greatest impact. Nationals and networks is one of our priorities. This is a large and important part of the advice market, and we've shaped our approach to engage more meaningfully with the largest advice firms. They represent just 1% of the firms but hold 50% of the market by assets. That's a significant opportunity, and we're going after it with real conviction. We have also launched Brooks strategic partnerships to help IFA firms scale for the future in technology, operations and investment propositions while maintaining their independence. We're really pleased with the early momentum behind this offering. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and the pipeline of new partnerships is building. And finally, we're actively targeting the new model adviser segment. These are smaller firms than the nationals and networks, but firms that deliver holistic advice at scale. These firms make up around 25% to 30% of the market and manage over GBP 300 billion of assets. This is a compelling opportunity. Our sharper distribution approach is delivering, and you can see it across both BPS and NPS. BPS FUM is up 9% with continued strong growth in portfolios over GBP 1 million, reflecting our pivot towards high net worth clients. It's pleasing to see that strategy translating into results. In just 5 years, we've grown NPS nearly sixfold as a result of our broad U.K. distribution network. This has been supported by strong investment performance, which for medium-risk portfolios ranks first among our peers over 10 years. Our CIP has built a strong reputation and rightly so. It delivers market-leading consistency, strong performance and outcomes that are genuinely built around the needs of our clients. Brooks Financial has been a real highlight this year and a powerful example of the progress we've made. We have successfully integrated 6 businesses, a complex undertaking the team has executed with skill and dedication. This is now a substantial business representing 25% of the group revenue. In a year of integration, client satisfaction is at 93%, client retention at 98% and financial planning revenues up 10% on a like-for-like basis, all while delivering cost synergies ahead of plan. This is a solid achievement by any measure. We've built a model that works, one that crucially is committed to independent financial advice, which positions us well for the future growth in an attractive market. We've now got the capabilities and capacity in place to take advantage of the significant opportunities in the market. We have the distribution reach, the investment performance, the products and the client service to compete and win. And we'll do this with discipline. We remain firmly committed to annual cost growth of less than 5%, and that discipline is now embedded across every part of our business. Critically, we have great people and are also attracting more talent to drive this forward. Our priorities for 2027 are clear. We'll continue our product innovation to meet client needs and continue to deploy AI, digital and automation to enhance client service. We'll be focused on our 4 key distribution opportunities. As I've mentioned, developing relationships with nationals and networks is one of our priorities. We're specifically targeting 10 of these firms who collectively have GBP 250 billion of AUM and around 3,500 financial advisers. We're already the chosen partner for 2 of the 10 and are working closely with the others. With Brooks Macdonald's strategic partnerships, we already have a pipeline of qualified prospects and converting that pipeline will be our priority in 2027. The aging U.K. population and the FCA's requirement for IFAs to have a centralized and repeatable approach to retirement planning create real need for our retirement strategy propositions. This reality is already resonating strongly with our nationals and network partners. In Brooks Financial, we'll be focused on retention and development of our people as well as developing new financial planners through the Brooks Academy. We'll further leverage our digital tools to increase productivity, allowing advisers more time to spend with clients. From the AI technology deployed in 2026, I see potential to unlock further insights from our CRM system to improve new business and retention. So to bring this together, our strategy to reignite growth is working. FUMA is at a record level. Revenue is growing, investment performance remains strong. Brooks Financial is established, growing and ready to scale organically and through targeted inorganic opportunities. And the deliberate investments we have made have materially strengthened our business for the future. All of that gives us confidence to anticipate that the full year 2027 performance will be marginally ahead of current consensus. As I reflect on these results, I'm pleased with how far we've come in the last few years. We've talked today about performance and progress. We're building something special, a human-led, digitally enabled wealth manager. The investments we've made in process, technology and people are the foundations for our future success. We operate in a structural growth market. The momentum in our business is real and the direction is clear. We're in a strong position, and we will, I know, make the most of it.

Thank you for watching the Brooks McDonald's Full year 2026 Results Presentation. Andrea Montague, CEO; and Katherine Jones, CFO, will now take your questions. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Andrew Watson of Singer Capital Markets.

Really comprehensive run through. I mean it's evident that a lot of the technology investment that you've been putting in is already embedded in the front office and is being used in Ang day-to-day. Just wondering if you could give us some examples of where that's really worked. And you mentioned CRM and a little bit of sort of meet and prep type stuff and as well other ideas you've got in the pipeline. And I suppose the logical follow-up to that is the investment that you're going to be undertaking in the coming year, are there enhancements that will be delivered in a matter of months rather than needing to be incubated for a longer period of time?

Thanks to all for joining. Great question. So we are not...

Can't hear you, Andrea.

Can't hear us. Okay. Can we someone will fix that.

[indiscernible].

Excellent. There we go. Start again. Andrew, great question. As we outlined, we're at the peak. We've completed the peak of investment. And what I'd say to you is we can bring some of that live and bring some color to it. If I think back 2 years ago, I think we all recognized that the business had underinvested and that actually we needed to modernize it. And I couldn't be prouder of the team because of what they've delivered. It's been heavy lifting for the last couple of years. You asked for a few examples of what we've done that gives you confidence in what we're about to do. So essentially end-to-end systems, processes and product range. If I put it in the 3 strategic categories for you to bring it alive a little bit, client service, if you wanted to become a client a couple of years ago, you had to get through 42 pages of document. If you wanted to add an ISA, you had a very similar form. Now even I would struggle completing that. So today, we can digitally onboard you. We've got an app. And essentially, it's a much more digitally enabled choice for our clients is what you'd expect in a modern wealth business. Client reach, we've done a huge amount. I'm really pleased with what the team have brought to clients around the U.K. So we've completely modernized our product suite. I would point to global MPS and point to the restructuring of MPS into 3 building blocks, which gives us better opportunities in the future to keep that investment proposition alive and fresh and also better ability to manage CGT, but also BPS retirement strategies, and we can talk about that. But ultimately, serving a GBP 15 billion a year market of drawdown in the U.K., that retirement strategies product is first to market on platforms. So it's already coming through the numbers and reduced costs, increased flows, GBP 600 million turnaround. And importantly, client satisfaction is up. You asked about this year, and we've guided a significant decrease on that spend, high single digits, and we'll put it to good use. We are fit for the future, but like any fitness program, you need to keep fit. And essentially, this will be a year of thinking about largely AI. There is one regulatory project in there, Andrew, T+1 that's across the sector. Clearly, we need to do that. But I'm really excited. I can't give them all away because ultimately, we'll have nothing to talk about at the half year if we do that. But if I choose 1 or 2 to bring it alive for you, in terms of AI, we'll use that across the suite at Brooks Financial. So where you find increased productivity opportunities in power planning and admin, we will do end-to-end process with AI now that we've got the systems and the data in place that will be able to produce material productivity gains. And ultimately, then you'll have an app at the end that allows you to see much like Uber, the waiting time when we bring in your pension scheme, for instance, you'll see that processing through. So it's also workflow for our own people and for our clients. And then a very clever ChatGPT piece on the website. We've got a great website now. We've got increased engagement with that. What I'd really like to see is more conversion of those leads, and we're 2 weeks into an 8-week sprint. So back to your point, Andrew, will these be boxed and much more able to bring to market more quickly? Yes, fundamentally, because AI, the great thing about AI, it's not the big waterfall tech programs. It's the small sprints, and this one is going really well. We're 2 weeks into an 8-week sprint. And Andrew, best way to get to know us is become a client. So any time you want to pop in, we're around the corner and we would love to bring this all alive for you.

You didn't mention a discount.

There are -- we're very competitive. We can definitely talk about that. maybe one to one, clearly, not on mass.

Fabulously tight. I think I'm #2. Can I ask a proper question. Just to bring it all together, when all of this is in place, what do you think it really does to the capacity of one of your financial plans?

So it has already materially increased our capacity. You'll have seen the 10% increase in organic revenue that is really pleasing, but we see more potential for Bricks Financial now that we're through the year of integration. Capacity and productivity, we measure what I'm really interested in is revenue per financial planner. Catherine very kindly gives me those stats on a regular basis. That's what we track. But we do -- people talk about how many clients per financial planner. I'm much more interested in revenue per financial planner because ultimately, we have higher net worth clients than most businesses, most average across the U.K. So as long as we continue to increase the revenue, which we will be able to do with these tools, that will help us grow that top line. And importantly, keep the costs under control as well because now we can leverage it.

Next question comes from Ben Bathurst of RBC.

I'm going to ask a couple of areas -- a couple of questions in areas around financials, if I may. So probably more for Catherine. Starting on the excess capital, that's moved to GBP 6 million at the year-end. I just wondered how confident you are in your being able to sort of grow that excess capital over 2027, sort of absent any M&A given the lower investments you're talking about next year? And then related to that, is your ability to carry out M&A in the financial planning space that you, I think, referenced in the release this morning, is that constrained by the level of surplus capital? Or would you consider using other sources of funding for deals in the short term? And then secondly, in terms of the revenue margin guidance, you guided to the '26 trends continuing into FY '27. I just wondered, is that comment made inclusive of the impact of the changes to charges around client cash? Or is it really the case that sort of after incorporating that, we should really expect margins to decline more in '27 than we saw in '26?

Okay. Thanks, Ben. These are great questions, as always. So I think in terms of the excess capital position, you would have seen GBP 6 million at year-end. It's important to note that, that is over and above our internal risk appetite. So very comfortable with the balance sheet in terms of where we are. And we've talked about this a lot before, I think. This is fundamentally a cash and capital generative business. We've gone through a period of significant investment and transformation over the last couple of years. We have guided to that level of investment stepping down as we move forward. And so obviously, that will then help in terms of supporting the capital and cash positions as we look ahead. In terms of M&A, obviously, we are cash and capital generative, so that is helpful. We're a listed business. So there are other options, but we are being very disciplined in terms of the potential opportunities that we look at, and we'll only put something forward to shareholders if it is financially compelling. Just on your revenue margin guidance, you're absolutely right. We have guided to the trends that we have seen in full year '26 continuing. At the time of the Q4 RNS, you'll remember in July, we talked about the impact of no longer charging IM fees on cash. And we said at the time that I'd expect that to have a couple of million pound impact on the revenue, but it wouldn't be material in the context of the overall financial performance of the business. So I would expect the margin to come down a little bit as a result of that IM fee change. And then broadly across the business, we're not seeing pricing pressure. We don't sell BPS on the basis of price. It is a valuable proposition, particularly for clients who have portfolios more than GBP 1 million. And on the MPS side, we have established pricing. We're very comfortable with that. There is no race to the bottom, which is what people were fearing a couple of years ago. So very comfortable with that.

Our next question comes from Vivek Raja of Investec.

I wanted to explore flows again see what else you can say, I suppose. I suppose that Andrew has already explored the subject, but great improvement in trajectory, as you both pointed out, very clearly. And I wondered, if you sort of think about products and distribution as the driver of this, what would you point out as being the key part of that trajectory? And just wondered if you could comment on how sustainable you think the improvement is. Obviously, you've had sort of 3 consecutive quarters of improvement. I just wondering in the near term, looking through to your medium-term guidance, how you'd see that improvement playing out. The next thing I wanted to ask was in terms of the acquisition pipeline, -- what is that about? Is that about sort of geographic reach? Is that about new capabilities? What are you sort of looking for in particular there? I'll leave it there.

Thanks, Vivek. Great question. So in terms of flows, what gives me confidence that we're really at the beginning of this turnaround is all the hard work that we've put in over the last 2 years is building towards an advice-led distribution-led business. We've got great 35 years of investment management expertise that drives the investment return for our clients, which is really pleasing. What we needed to do was get back out in front of those clients, and that's exactly what we're doing. And now we've got the right to win -- so I would point you to the change in strategy and the change in people and distribution. Increasingly now, we are hearing that we are winning out in front of IFAs and that feedback loop is strong. We've got the product range that meets a very modern investment management product suite and need. And also the tools give us much more insight into who we're serving and the greater opportunity for wealth and the balance of wealth and the transfer of wealth. So ultimately, it's the product, it's the distribution strength. I talked about in the video, Vivek, that we've -- well, obviously, we've recommitted to the 5% target. But in the video importantly, talked about those nationals and networks, which we haven't focused on before. 1% of the firms in the U.K. have 50% of the assets. We're very, very focused on those. So that scale play in that space. Clearly, IFA, the regional network is really continues to be important to us, but that plus Brooks McDonald's strategic partnerships, again, new leadership and new energy in that space. And I would say, Vivek, that in every business, you have to think about the market you work in. We're in a very strong structural growth market. MPS, GBP 200 billion now set to double by 2030 to GBP 400 billion. We took 35% increase in FUM, and we are absolutely going to win our fair share of that going forward between now and 2030, GBP 400 billion marketplace. but also BPS is growing, and that's really pleasing. It's the 9% increase in FUM. I see with the changes in tax coming potentially down the track that BPS increasingly for everyone over 1 million, we should be asking why not BPS? Because the value of BPS is the investment, it's the service, but importantly, it's the tax planning that those higher net worth over GBP 1 million for us, clients really need. So hugely confident about the potential. And again, we should get you in to meet the distribution team and the energy that they bring to the table. In terms of acquisitions, to be clear, we're focused on organic growth, first and foremost. We're demonstrating that in the results today. But ultimately, we will look at discrete opportunities. We're in a really fortunate position that IFA firms know us. and they're coming to us, but these don't happen overnight. And looking out, we will only make acquisitions where we think it's the right cultural fit. So yes, geographic reach is important, but first and foremost, it has to be a cultural fit for us because we've got something really special in Brooks Financial, and we want to be able to grow that through the talent we're attracting, but also through the academy, first and foremost, and we'll look at other options at the right time as we're building cash and capital because it is fundamentally a cash-generative business.