Netwealth shrugs off First Guardian with strong half

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

19 February 2026

Netwealth Limited has told shareholders it relinquished $30 million of the $100 million debt facility it established to deal with compensation to clients impacted by the collapse of the First Guardian Master Trust.

The company said that it had drawn $70 million from the facility in late January, but the balance of the compensation payment had been drawn from internal resources.

The status of the First Guardian-related debt facility came as Netwealth announced its first half results revealing a 19.9% increase in net profit after tax on the back of a 24.7% increase in total income to $193.8 million.

The directors declared an interim dividend of 21 cents per share, fully franked.

Netwealth chief executive and managing director, Matt Heine reinforced the company’s health arguing that it had entered the second half with strong momentum, continued business growth and increasing traction across the market.

The company’s announcement said platform revenue grew by 25.3% to $189 million for the first half.

“The strength of these results is demonstrated by the continued growth in Netwealth’s key business drivers. FUA custodial inflows were $16.4B for the half, an increase of 10.7%. Total FUA ended the period at $125.6B, up $24.0B on PCP or 23.6%.

“Growth was driven by a range of factors including a 13.7% increase in the number of accounts to 172,221, and an increase in the number of advisers to 4,089 which was an increase of 7.3%.

“Average FUA per account increased by 11. 4% to $7 20K per account. FUA net flows were $8.2B, compared to $8. 5B in the PCP. This included the outflow of two institutional accounts of $0.4B. “Managed Account net flows were $3.4B for the half , an increase of 42.7%.”