Alexforbes, long established as a leader in institutional financial services, is accelerating its expansion into the retail space. The group is reshaping its strategy to broaden access to financial advice, deepen retail engagement, and build stronger ties with independent financial advisers (IFAs).
The company released its annual results for the year to the end of March 2025 this week, reporting strong financial performance across the board:
- Operating income rose 13% to R4.4 billion.
- Profit from operations climbed 14% to R911 million.
- Cash from continuing operations increased 15% to R1.23bn
- Headline earnings per share (HEPS) grew 15% to 70.8 cents
- Normalised HEPS rose 23% to 69.1 cents.
Shareholders will receive a final dividend of 33 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 55 cents – a 10% increase. A special dividend of 10 cents per share was also declared.
Other financial highlights include a regulatory surplus of R1.35bn, a cover ratio of 2.3 times (well above the 1.2 target), and available cash of R700m. The group also reported a 3% increase in total members under administration and advice, reaching 1.56 million. Total assets under administration and management rose 14% to R599bn.
Segment performance
Alexforbes’s operating income is split across five core segments: retirement consulting, healthcare consulting, investments, individual consulting, and multinational consulting.
Retirement consulting income increased 17% to R1.36bn, supported by organic growth and the consolidation of TSA Administration. The group also continued onboarding clients from Sanlam’s standalone retirement fund administration business. Payroll growth and preparatory work for the two-pot retirement system added further momentum.
Healthcare consulting saw modest growth, with operating income up 2% to R371m. Medical scheme broking revenue grew by 1%, aided by higher commission caps but tempered by the loss of a large health management client and fewer public sector employees.
The investments segment, which contributes more than half of Alexforbes’s profits and revenue, delivered a 12% increase in income to R1.82bn. This was driven by improved retail flows, stronger average assets under management, and favourable market performance. The group achieved a 12% blended market return across portfolios.
“Investments [are] a big part of Alexforbes’s business, more than 50% of our profits and revenue,” said chief executive Dawie de Villiers (pictured). “We’re driving that in order to complement what we’re doing on the retail side and on the institutional side.”
He added that Alexforbes aims to be known not only for administration or retirement funds, but as a household name in investments – part of a broader effort to reshape the brand’s perception in the market.
Multinational consulting, with operations in Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, and the Channel Islands, grew 13% to R386m.
The strongest evidence of Alexforbes’s retail push was seen in individual consulting, where operating income rose 10% to R461m. Retail assets under management crossed the R100bn mark, rising 11% to R107bn, and assets under advisement grew 12% to R112.3bn. New business assets increased 24% to R25.7bn.
Retail advised assets rose by 15% to R15.1bn, while retained assets from the retirement fund base jumped 39% to R10.6bn. Investment Solutions the group’s discretionary fund management (DFM) offering, attracted R2.2bn in new business, contributing to a 34% year-on-year increase in total retail new business to R27.9bn.
Retail strategy gains momentum
The 2025 financial year marked the beginning of a structural shift for Alexforbes as it formally established a dedicated retail unit. This brought distribution and technology enablement under one structure, with new teams created for retail partnerships (focused on IFAs) and retail investments.
De Villiers explained that retail portfolio construction demands a different approach: “There is a different view to institutional, there are nuanced changes. We’ll feed off the same calibre of research that we used to have and that we still have in Forbes. And we’ll exercise using the same great managers that are out there. But the way we blend these retail portfolios to compete with the benchmark… we have to adjust a little bit and the focus. And that’s it. It’s already coming through just a few months into the space.”
He added that the 34% increase in retail new business is proof of the strategy’s early success: “We’ve always had a 10% to 15% annual growth in retail with business as usual and our current advisers, and the way we did business. We’ve scaled all of that up in terms of the way we engage the tech, the lead generation, the enablement of alpha advisers, the type of solutions we have. Everything that we put in place is now starting to build momentum in terms of growth there.”
A key enabler of this growth is the individualisation strategy, launched two years ago. It prioritises member engagement, modern advice frameworks, digital tools, and adviser recruitment and training. Since then, the number of in-house advisers has grown by more than 50%, reaching 279 – and the group plans to scale this further.
Strengthening ties with IFAs
For most of its 90-year history, Alexforbes focused on institutional consulting. But the group has now broadened its distribution strategy to include IFAs – and this is reflected in product innovation and partnerships.
Its institutional umbrella fund suite, comprising the Alexander Forbes Retirement Fund (AFRF) and AF Access, reported a 23% rise in assets to R164.1bn.
This week, Alexforbes launched its third umbrella fund, Alexforbes One, which is available to both internal consultants and IFAs.
De Villiers said the group hopes many IFAs will see the new umbrella fund as a valuable solution.
“And certainly in the umbrella fund space, we see this as a big part of our growth, and that will hopefully lead to assets on the asset platform as well, because through the umbrella, they can structure even if they want direct assets with a single manager, they can structure on our platform, and we can help them with the reporting and the pricing, or they can put it into our solutions on the umbrella.”
To strengthen its relationships with IFAs, Alexforbes also introduced an advice partnership model that breaks away from the traditional joint venture or franchise approach. This model enables IFAs to retain full independence, with no obligation to adopt the Alexforbes brand. Compliance and regulatory duties remain with the IFA, who appoints their own key individuals.
In return, Alexforbes offers access to its institutional advice frameworks, research, analytics, and intellectual capital – all aimed at empowering IFAs to deliver top-tier advice. The partnership is supported by a revenue-sharing arrangement.
Read: Alexforbes reinvents adviser partnerships: a strategic shift to empower best advice
According to De Villiers, a key aim of this model is to build awareness among advisers of what Alexforbes can offer, and to shift perceptions.
“We’re the good guys and not competition,” he said. “And those are going well and hopefully in the future, they will lead to business as well, but even if it is just supporting the industry.”
On the retail side, he added, their DFM offering is viewed as a natural entry point for IFAs and forms a key part of the company’s broader IFA strategy.
“We’ve already hired probably three or four people on the individual retail side, in order to support these IFAs,” said De Villiers. “You can’t just say you’re open for business, but you don’t have the support network for them. So, there’s a team being built as we grow.”
De Villiers sees significant potential on the retail front. “Not just the DFM, but also direct – accessing our solutions, accessing the report backs, and certainly with all the regulatory needs around advice for an FSP. There are a lot of advisers that are keen, so we are going full throttle on intermediaries – institutional and retail. Supporting them and building the capability. We will only see this growth in the next year or two.”
Read the annual results summary financial statements and cash dividend declaration for the year ended 31 March 2025 here.
