JTC's Rapid Growth Shows Global Platform Allure

Tom Burroughes

1 November 2022

, a global provider of fund, corporate and private client services, recently announced another strong set of results (13 September 2022) with revenue growth of 38.8 per cent reaching £93 million ($103.9 million) for the six months to 30 June from a year earlier.

The rise in revenue was attributed to “continued strong net organic growth” of 9.5 per cent and inorganic growth of 29.3 per cent. And the firm also chalked up underlying profit (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) of £30.7 million, rising 40.1 per cent from a year ago.

Figures such as this explain why the business is in a confident mood, arguing that a volatile financial and geopolitical background is no barrier to success. David Vieira, chief communications officer, recently spoke to this news service about its performance and prospects.

He said that the fund, corporate services and private client space is continuing to consolidate – in spite of how fragmented the existing industry is due to the pressures of compliance and rising client expectations, he said.

“People now demand a global platform,” Vieira said, noting that 20 years ago, service providers tended to be scattered among a range of jurisdictions. “People are bringing together businesses to create global platforms,” he said.

“By revenues and earnings, we are on track to double the size of the business from where we ended 2020 in only three to four years,” Vieira said.

The firm, which has a well-established EBIDTA margin target of 33 to 38 per cent, aims to generate annual net organic revenue growth of between 8 to 10 per cent.

JTC was part-owned by private equity firm CBPE from 2012 to 2018, giving the business the financial resources to expand and build its global presence and market offering. “We could see that consolidation was gathering pace and, if it was going to be a case of eat or be eaten, we wanted to remain in control of our own destiny… private equity took a 40 per cent stake, which for us was the perfect balance at the time.”

Since 2010, JTC has inked a total of 25 deals, completing around three to four deals per annum, although in 2021, it completed a record seven deals, with three of those being in the fast-growing US market.

Shared ownership structure
JTC’s shared ownership culture – all employees are owners of the business – is important in aligning incentives and has been in place since 1998, Vieira said.

“This is a people and relationship business that is enabled by best-in-class technology. We are 100 per cent committed to shared ownership for all our people and have a real belief in our meritocratic approach to progression and the opportunity for our people to enjoy a long career with JTC based on lifelong learning.”

Among recent developments, JTC appointed former Bank of America Merrill Lynch figure Charles-Henry Courtois as regional head – AMEA within its Private Client Services division. (“AMEA” stands for Asia, the Middle East and Africa.)