Good day, all, and welcome to Brooks Macdonald's full year 2024 results presentation. With me today is Andrea Montague, our CFO and CEO designate, and I'll pass to her shortly to take you through the detail of the results. First, though, I'm pleased to present a good set of results in my final update as CEO. As we shared in July, our flows are not where we want or expect them to be. However, our financial performance has been good, and I'm delighted with the strong capital position the group is in as I depart. Since this is my last results announcement as CEO, I hope you'll allow me to reflect on the past three years and indeed on my twenty-two and a half years with the group. When I joined in 2002, we had less than 300 million in assets under management.
By the time we listed in 2005, that had grown to GBP 370 million, and our share price at listing was GBP 1.40, with a market cap of around GBP 14 million. Not a listing, I think you'll agree, that we're likely to see today. Of course, today, we're managing assets over GBP 18 billion with a market cap more than 20x higher. This success story has been built on a robust investment process and excellent service to both financial advisors and clients. That foundation remains unchanged. We've consistently delivered strong returns and innovated to ensure our proposition stays relevant. This approach has met the needs of advisors and clients, delivering appropriate outcomes and allowing them to sleep easy at night.
Over the years, our industry has seen much change, from the Retail Distribution Review in 2013 to the Consumer Duty in 2023. Both have shaped advisors' needs, driving demand for simplified, low-cost solutions like managed portfolio services. We launched our MPS in 2003 to meet this demand, and our Bespoke Portfolio Service has also evolved, offering tailored solution for clients with specific needs, such as managing complexity or decumulation. We've seen significant consolidation in the advisor marketplace, with over 30 private equity-backed consolidators in the U.K. today. With the average age of an advisor still the same as when I began my qualifications 30 years ago, it's no surprise that many are opting to step back from the demands and challenges of running an advice business.
This trend has created opportunities for us to scale our own financial advice business, which has been part of Brooks since 1991 and is now a key driver of our growth. Advisors are drawn to us as a home for their clients' futures for two good reasons: our strong client-focused culture and our ability to free them from the burdens of business management. I don't doubt that we'll pursue further acquisitions when the timing is right, and they align with our strict criteria. We've also taken steps to streamline our business. The sale of our international operation and our Defensive Capital Fund has simplified Brooks Macdonald, enabling us to concentrate on our core strengths. We are now focused on providing multi-asset portfolios and multi-asset fund investment solutions to both external and internal financial advisors, as well as offering financial planning services to direct clients within the U.K.
Getting to this point has taken an enormous amount of hard work, and I owe a huge thanks to a number of stakeholders. To our colleagues, who have stayed with us through the changes and for whom I have an enormous amount of respect. Many have become great friends over the years. To our clients, who have entrusted us with their financial futures, to our introducers, who have trusted us with their business, and to our shareholders, who have supported us through all the changes, some since our very beginning on AIM in 2005. The future opportunity remains immense, and while I could get all excited and enthused about it with you right here and right now, I'll leave that joy to Andrea.
It's been a fantastic journey for me, and I'm delighted that Andrea, with her drive, skill set, and deep knowledge of our business, will take the reins and accelerate the delivery of our strategy, all while keeping our clients at the heart of what we do. With that, Andrea, over to you.
Sure, thanks for your kind words and your support over the last year. I've really enjoyed working with you and seeing firsthand your passion for our clients and Brooks. On behalf of everyone, we wish you all the best. So good morning, everyone. Today, I will cover three things: the highlights of the financial results for 2024, our strategy to reignite growth, and our outlook. I will also share some of my own observations, having engaged with all parts of the business, met with and listened to our colleagues and clients since my appointment as CEO designate. I'm clear that Brooks is a great business with great people focused on our clients, and I'm very excited to take on the role of CEO in October. Let's move to the financials. For full- year 2024, Brooks delivered good results, with underlying EPS up 6.6%.
We saw growth in assets, revenues, and profits. This was underpinned by continued momentum in MPS, significant growth in specialist offerings within BPS, and management action on costs and operating efficiencies. We have strengthened our capital position through the year with a cash balance ending at GBP 74.7 million, up GBP 21.3 million on prior- year. We have announced a proposed full-year dividend of 78 pence, up 4%. This marks the 19th successive annual dividend increase for the group. We've made progress across all these metrics, led by funds under management, which grew by 7% to GBP 18 billion, despite difficult market conditions. Particularly pleasing to see is the underlying profit margin widening by two percentage points to 26.6%. We disclosed these numbers previously at Q4. Building on many years of good growth, platform MPS has delivered fivefold growth since 2020.
FUM now stands at GBP 4.4 billion. A key driver of this growth is the continued strong investment performance, and this is a core strength of our business. As you've seen from the chart, we have a strong record of outperformance across all categories, over short and long term. Our investment process is strong because of the rigor and research employed by our talented people. This slide should look familiar, showing that our product mix continues to drive changes in yield. We all know the trends, and this year the principal driver in the change of the average yield of three basis points was once again change in mix. Total revenue increased by 3.6%, driven by growth in transactional income, foreign exchange income, and financial planning.
As guided at the half year, interest income was lower in the second half as we passed a greater proportion to our clients. We've kept costs flat, driven by decisive actions on efficiencies taken earlier in the year. These actions have already delivered GBP 4 million in savings on an annualized basis. Brooks has a strong capital position, and at the year-end, we hold GBP 74.7 million cash, of which GBP 55.9 million is free cash surplus. Bringing it all together, a record closing FUM up 7%, revenue up 3.6%, and with flat costs, this led to an underlying profit margin of 26.6%. This is all against a backdrop of regulatory change in our sector. We continue to be committed to the principles of Consumer Duty, and our client focus and guiding principles are aligned to that.
We completed a review of ongoing advice services, and the board have concluded that no provision is required. Over the last- year, I've met with as many clients and advisors as possible. I've visited our offices to meet our people, attended pitches, and even met one of our first clients who came to Brooks back in 1992 and remains a client to this day. The founders reminded me of their original vision to serve our clients in a better way. In our conversations, I have asked people to give me their frank views about us: what's good, what isn't, why pick us? Those conversations were invaluable. I kept coming back to them when defining our strategy, which I have announced today. To be the best we can be, we must do more. That's what our clients, our people, and our shareholders want.
It is also what is required to get and to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry. Our purpose is clear: realizing ambitions and securing futures. What we do matters for real people. We have the breadth, propositions, client relationships, and routes to market to capitalize on the clear opportunities in the U.K. wealth management market. We are all very aware of the size and the substantial opportunity for the U.K. market. There are established trends. There have been fundamental changes to the market post-Consumer Duty, and advisors across the U.K. are outsourcing more of their discretionary management services. With an eye to the U.K. government's Autumn Statement, I believe there are future and further opportunities for us. Let's take our two core propositions in turn. Starting with BPS, it meets a structural need.
I believe BPS is as relevant to our clients today as it was when we launched this business over 30 years ago. Since 2020, there's been a 20% growth in BPS clients, with portfolios exceeding GBP 1 million. They now represent more than 50% of our FUM. At the same time, we have seen advisors increasingly turning to us. These are all signs that BPS serves clients with a broad range of more complex needs. As we continue to demonstrate value for our clients, we expect around 4% of FUM will migrate to MPS over the coming years. This will free up capacity for our investment managers to continue to deliver a great service for existing clients, as well as win new business. MPS is the fastest growing segment of the wealth market, and Brooks has a great MPS proposition, and there's more to come.
The two drivers here are the number of advisors and the amount of FUM per advisor. Today, most of our advisors have only one product placed with us. There is potential to broaden and expand that as our advisors outsource more of their discretionary management services. Over the last four years, FUM has grown five times, with more advisors placing more assets with us. The real opportunity I see is ensuring we provide the breadth of our propositions to our existing clients…. We all know the size of the opportunity, and that we operate in a competitive market. To win, I believe it will come down to strengths, strategy, and execution. This slide lists many, but I'm going to highlight three. First, let's start with our people. Having worked with them, I'm confident that we have the strengths, talents, and capabilities across the business needed to succeed.
You have already heard me speak about the strength of our investment performance, and the average tenure of our investment managers is over 10 years. Secondly, we deliver great returns for our clients. As you have already seen, we have outperformed over the last 10 years. Third, we are a trusted brand. Brooks is the second most recommended DFM provider in the 2024 Defaqto Satisfaction Survey. I'm excited about taking on the CEO role from the first of October. I'm very clear on our strategy and how we will make it happen. My three priorities are client service, client reach, and efficiency. I am confident that these will reignite growth. My first priority is to continue to deliver excellent client service. Having now met with many of our clients, they tell me that they appreciate our service, quality, and value. This starts with the basics of client service.
We will do more to exceed our clients' expectations. To proactively meet our clients' needs, we will continue to launch differentiated and innovative products. One clear example of that is our strong offering in decumulation. We've already tested in one region, and we will roll that out across the U.K. in Q2 of our financial year. These are some of the actions we will take to retain our existing clients and attract new ones. Turning to my second priority, broadening and deepening client reach. This is about distribution. This is about going to the market in a smarter way. We start from a position of strength. We have a breadth of propositions and a breadth of advisor clients. There is clear scope to do more with our existing advisors.
From first of July, I've changed the incentive schemes to ensure our entire distribution and investment management teams work as one and serve our client needs. Using enhanced data analytics, we will be more effective in targeting lead generation to win new advisors and clients. My third priority is driving scale and efficiencies. I have already outlined the actions to drive growth. Clearly, that needs to be combined with efficiency. In the last year, we have delivered GBP 4 million in annualized cost savings. Additionally, we have outsourced our back office technology. Now, a key priority is to ensure we optimize processes across the group. I believe there is a significant opportunity to drive efficiency through that, and that is what we are focusing on. I have described the actions taken in our core business.
Turning to inorganic growth, selective M&A will play a part in our future, aligned against our clear framework. We announced a strategic review of our international business, and the review concluded that a sale was the best option for both group and international. Today, we've announced an agreement to sell BMI to Canaccord, subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is due to complete in March 2025, resulting in a loss of GBP 2 million of group underlying profit in the last quarter. The total cash consideration of up to GBP 50.85 million reflects the underlying strength of the business and quality of the team. I've outlined the strategy and the actions we will take. We have outlined the KPIs, and I will update you in future results. I am confident in the medium term, and as a result, I'm announcing new medium-term targets.
Specifically, we are targeting annualized net flows of 5%, with momentum clearly building over time, and actively managing our underlying cost growth to less than 5% per annum. Turning to the outlook for 2025. The economic outlook is more positive, which could prompt stronger demand for wealth management services and the increase in the number of people seeking advice. Therefore, we expect the business to return to positive net flows later in the year. Interest income for the second half of GBP 5 million was in line with our guidance. We obviously expect interest income to be impacted further by expected Bank of England rate reductions. For full- year 2025, we expect client interest return to be circa GBP 7-8 million. As part of strategy, we will actively invest CapEx of GBP 4-5 million.
To conclude, we have delivered a good set of results for full year 2024, with a strong capital and cash position. We have a clear strategy to reignite growth. We have made strategic progress, creating a more efficient and simplified business. We have a strong team across Brooks. I've added some key talent to that. For example, appointments, and Greg Mullins, our Head of Adviser Solutions, who has joined us from Rathbones, and the announcement today of our new Chief Financial Officer, Catherine Jones, who joins us from Phoenix. We know what we need to do. This is about executing our strategy at pace. I am confident that we will unlock the full potential of Brooks Macdonald. Thank you.