Snowball on a roll

By Victoria Young

— 1 minute read

17 August 2007

Acquisition pays off for Snowball Group.

Listed financial services company Snowball Group has more than doubled its funds under advice to $4.2 billion following the acquisition of Western Pacific Financial Group (WPFG) in February.

By achieving earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $9.4 million, it smashed its pro-forma guidance of $8.5 to 9 million EBITDA for the 2007 fiscal year.

And Snowball's expectation for fiscal 2008 is that operating EBITDA should grow organically by at least 15 per cent.

Snowball Group managing director Tony McDonald said the company would trump the 2007 result.

"In the 2008 fiscal year, Snowball should benefit from higher average levels of funds under advice ... a full year of revenue synergies, absence of the one-off costs relating to the WPFG merger and the benefits of a number of internal projects designed to further lift efficiency and productivity," McDonald said.

The results were driven by adviser channels Outlook Financial and WPFG working together to achieve revenue growth and the benefit of strong financial markets.

Also to be taken into consideration is $750,000 in one-off recruitment and integration expenses.

Snowball released the results in a market update to the Australian Securities Exchange. The figures remain subject to a final audit.