The directors present the strategic report for the period ended 31 March 2025.
The company started generating revenue in February 2025, when its holding company, Clever Adviser Technology Limited, completed the transfer of its Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) business to the company.
Assets under management (AUM), the key driver of revenue, were £673m as at the financial period end date of 31 March 2025 (31 January 2024: £nil). This resulted in revenues of £185k being generated in the 2 months to 31 March 2025 (Year to 31 January 2024: £nil).
Operating expenses of £183k were incurred in the period (Year to 31 January 2024: £nil), resulting in a profit before tax for the period of £8k (Year to 31 January 2024: £nil).
The company had net current assets at the period end of £433k (As at 31 January 2024: £nil), of which £462k (31 January 2024: £nil) was cash at bank and in hand. The company holds a significant excess above its regulatory capital requirement.
The capital position of the company is strong, with shareholders’ funds at the period end of £433k (31 January 2024: £nil), supplemented by investment from its holding company, Clever Adviser Technology Limited, during the period.
The key determinant of revenue and profitability, being growth in AUM and new fund sales, will be significantly influenced by the performance of global stock markets. We expect to face challenges in 2025, with uncertainty in the markets due to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and the impact of the international trade wars. Despite these challenges, the company’s strategy of increasing its brand awareness and distribution networks from significant investment in planned sales and marketing activity is expected to mitigate these risks. Also, the quality of the company’s unique product offering using data-driven proprietary technology to manage its portfolios, is expected to act as a key differentiator for the business.
The key financial performance indicators of AUM, revenue, profit before tax and liquidity have been referred to above.
The board of directors of Clever Investment Management Limited consider that in their decision-making they have acted in a manner most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole. In doing so, they have considered their statutory duties as follows:
a) The likely consequence of any decision in the long term
b) The interests of the company’s employees
c) The need to foster the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others
d) The impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment
e) The desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct
f) The need to act fairly between members of the company.
The company, and its group holding company, also recognise their responsibilities towards their staff and considers that they have appropriate policies in place regarding the remuneration and welfare of their employees. A flexible hybrid working policy is adopted by the company and the company has a remuneration policy to ensure that all staff are appropriately remunerated.
The company, and its group holding company, are committed to service excellence and high standards of business conduct and have invested in recruitment so these standards can be maintained as IFA customer numbers grow. The Group will continue to invest in its staff and the directors remain confident the business employs staff with the appropriate qualifications and expertise to meet its objectives.
The company is aware of its environmental responsibilities and endeavours to minimise its operational impact on the environment. The company, and its group holding company, have installed energy-efficient equipment and motion detector lighting in their offices. Additionally, it encourages hybrid working to minimise unnecessary travel and the Group has transitioned to the ownership of zero emission company vehicles.
The central task of the Board is to set the strategy for the company and to build on its existing considerable strengths and to focus on future growth. The company will also continue to strive to provide objective, transparent, data-driven managed portfolios, that deliver strong relative and real returns for our customers and ultimately their end clients.
On behalf of the board
The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2025.
The results for the period are set out on page 8.
No ordinary dividends were paid. The directors do not recommend payment of a final dividend.
The directors who held office during the period and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
Barlow Andrews LLP were appointed as auditor to the company and in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006, a resolution proposing that they be re-appointed will be put at a General Meeting.
As the company is considered to be small in this reporting period, it has taken the exemption from the requirement to report on its emissions, energy consumption or energy efficiency activities.
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
We have audited the financial statements of Clever Investment Management Ltd (the 'company') for the period ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of comprehensive income, the balance sheet, the statement of changes in equity and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Basis for opinion
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
the information given in the strategic report and the directors' report for the financial period for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the directors' report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation and data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators and the company’s legal advisors.
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Other matters which we are required to address
The financial statements of Clever Investment Management Limited for the year ended 31 January 2024 were not required to be audited. As such, the comparative figures in the financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2025 are unaudited.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the company's member in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company's member those matters we are required to state to the member in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company's member, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The profit and loss account has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.
Clever Investment Management Ltd is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Watergate House, 85 Watergate Street, Chester.
The financial statements are presented for a 14 month period ended 31 March 2025. The reporting period has been extended to ensure the reported financial position aligns to the financial period of the parent company.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
This company is a qualifying entity for the purposes of FRS 102, being a member of a group where the parent of that group prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements, including this company, which are intended to give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the group. The company has therefore taken advantage of exemptions from the following disclosure requirements:
Section 7 ‘Statement of Cash Flows’: Presentation of a statement of cash flow and related notes and disclosures;
Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instrument Issues: Interest income/expense and net gains/losses for financial instruments not measured at fair value; basis of determining fair values; details of collateral, loan defaults or breaches, details of hedges, hedging fair value changes recognised in profit or loss and in other comprehensive income;
Section 26 ‘Share based Payment’: Share-based payment expense charged to profit or loss, reconciliation of opening and closing number and weighted average exercise price of share options, how the fair value of options granted was measured, measurement and carrying amount of liabilities for cash-settled share-based payments, explanation of modifications to arrangements;
Section 33 ‘Related Party Disclosures’: Compensation for key management personnel.
The financial statements of the company are consolidated in the financial statements of Clever Adviser Technology Limited. These consolidated financial statements are available from its registered office, Watergate House, 85 Watergate Street, Chester.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Other financial assets, including investments in equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, are initially measured at fair value, which is normally the transaction price. Such assets are subsequently carried at fair value and the changes in fair value are recognised in profit or loss, except that investments in equity instruments that are not publicly traded and whose fair values cannot be measured reliably are measured at cost less impairment.
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the company transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and loans from fellow group companies that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Debt instruments that do not meet the conditions in FRS 102 paragraph 11.9 are subsequently measured at fair value through profit or loss. Debt instruments may be designated as being measured at fair value through profit or loss to eliminate or reduce an accounting mismatch or if the instruments are measured and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented risk management or investment strategy.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the company’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
Equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the company.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the period was:
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
Included in staff costs are recharges of £88,910 (2024: £nil) from Clever Adviser Technology Limited, the parent company.
The actual charge for the period can be reconciled to the expected charge/(credit) for the period based on the profit or loss and the standard rate of tax as follows:
The parent company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund.
On 10 September 2024, the company issued 100 £1 ordinary shares to its parent company, for consideration of £425,000.
The company is included in the consolidated accounts of Clever Adviser Technology Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Watergate House, 85 Watergate Street, Chester. Copies of the group accounts can be obtained from the registered office.