This is the last financial results that the broker will report as a standalone business following its purchase by Howden Group in 2021

Broker Aston Lark has today (3 October 2022) reported 75% growth in its revenue to £160.1m.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) also grew by 82%, according to the broker’s full year 2021 financial results.

These results will be its last financial and accounts report as a standalone business, following the broker being acquired by Howden last year.

Peter Blanc, Aston Lark’s group chief executive, said: “In April 2022, Aston Lark formally joined Howden Group, becoming part of the most exciting insurance broking and employee benefits business in the market.

“With over 12,000 employees worldwide, over 3,500 of whom are shareholders, I’m very much looking forward to continuing the growth trajectory as we join forces with A-Plan and the wider Howden business. Our client offering goes from strength to strength.”

Acquisitions pipeline

Organic growth in both commission and fees for Aston Lark was 11%. Like for like, organic ebitda growth was 9%.

In 2021, Aston Lark completed 32 acquisitions in total across retail broking, employee benefits, Ireland and the London Market.

This included 27 share purchases, four book purchases and one trade and assets purchase. A further seven acquisitions have already been made in 2022 to date.

There was an increase of 60% in the average number of employees in the group, with headcount growing 65% from 1,083 at the start of the year to 1,783 at December 2021. This figure reached 1,977 in August 2022.