MM Meets… Louise Jeffreys: ‘I love getting under the bonnet of a business’

If there are two things that Gunner & Co founder and managing director Louise Jeffreys is passionate about, they are running and business.

When she isn’t busy overseeing her own company — which helps independent financial advisers, financial planners and wealth managers to come up with a succession plan — she’s listening to business audio books while she runs.

In fact, by the time I arrive at Gunner & Co’s offices, located on the waterside of Bristol’s beautiful marina, Jeffreys has already been for a two-hour jog around the city.

I believe that the service we offer, helping to define and execute succession plans, really does help people

“Running is definitely my thing,” she says. “I’ve just signed up to do the six major world marathons before I turn 50 — Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo and London. I must be mad.”

But it becomes apparent when meeting Jeffreys that she has no problem in stepping outside her comfort zone and tackling a challenge head on. In fact, she thrives on it.

Whether that’s living in a remote part of France at the age of 19 — teaching English — or planning a two-week trip to Dubai and then staying for 10 years, she rarely takes the easy route.

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that Jeffreys set up Gunner & Co with, she confesses, “limited knowledge of the M&A market” and having previously had no desire to run her own business.

For the first year or so, she adds, there was definitely an element of, “Fake it ’till you make it.”

I have great friends who are mums, and two of them own their business, like me. We are all career led and we help buoy each other up

But nobody can accuse her of winging it anymore. The company has established itself as the go-to place for both sellers and buyers, with Jeffreys and her team playing a central role in overseeing some of the biggest deals in the sector. But the journey to get there was anything but straightforward.

Around the world and back again

Jeffreys’ career story, from marketing executive to business owner, is a remarkable one that has taken her from Bristol literally around the world and back again.

A “third-generation Bristolian”, she was born and bred in the city and went to a local comprehensive school before going on to university, where she studied French. As part of her degree she spent six months teaching in a tech college in the French village of Bayonne, near Biarritz.

The effort of buying and integrating companies is such that, for the most part, consolidators now want to buy bigger businesses

After achieving her degree in 2001, she took a year out and secured a job as a member of the cabin crew for airline Virgin Atlantic. However, less than a month into her training the tragic events of 9/11 took place and the company laid off everyone who had been due to join.

Instead, Jeffreys decided to fly back to France for a ski season before heading over to the US and then Dubai. On the point of travelling to the last of the three countries, “I bought a suit,” she says, “packed it and said to Mum, ‘I have a return flight from Dubai in two weeks, but if I find a job I might stay there.’”

She did end up staying — for 10 years — after securing her “first proper job” as a trainee marketing manager for the Institute for International Research. She was then appointed marketing director for the Middle East division before being headhunted for a job in New York.

After a period of travel through South America, Jeffreys came back to the UK and took a job as chief marketing officer for an events and conferences business in Bristol. However, back in her home city she soon discovered that a lot of her school friends “had lived very different lives from mine”.

A deal is never done until it’s done, and there are always hurdles along the way

Feeling isolated, she started playing softball as a way of making new friends. Little did she know that this would initiate the next chapter of her career.

It was through softball that Jeffreys met the founder and managing partner of a financial publication, who suggested they work together — and Gunner & Co was born.

“The RDR [Retail Distribution Review] was going through at the time,” she says, “and a lot of people [in financial planning] were saying, ‘I don’t want to do my exams, I don’t want to go to Level 4, I just want to sell up. Can you help me?’

“My friend said, ‘I think there’s a real gap in the market here.’ And that’s how it all started, really.”

Accidental business owner

“I would honestly never have sat in a job in an employed role and said, ‘I really want to own my own company one day,’” confesses Jeffreys.

There are lots of steps within the process of selling a business where it can all go wrong

Despite this, she has fallen in love with the advice profession and the people in it.

“One of the things I really like about working with financial planners and IFAs is that they are all just human beings. I love the ability to connect with them.

“I also love business and I’m fortunate to spend all my time talking to people about their own business.

“I love getting under the bonnet of a business; looking at the mechanics of what makes it great and where the opportunities exist to improve it or evolve it.

“One of the best feelings is helping people to retire and realise the value of decades of work they have done and the sacrifices they have made to build the business up. I genuinely believe that the service we offer, helping to define and execute succession plans, really does help people.”

Finger on the pulse

As well as running and growing the business, Jeffreys still keeps her “finger on the pulse” by working on deals.

However, she confesses that this is also often what keeps her awake at night.

The smaller IFA businesses, with £70m or less under assets, don’t have quite as buoyant a market to sell into now

“A deal is never done until it’s done, and there are always hurdles along the way,” she says.

“We are very much at the whim of the Financial Conduct Authority to get change of control allowed for a business to sell. Then, when a business has found the perfect home, we have to go through a due-diligence process as there’s always a chance the buyer is going to change its mind.

“There are lots of steps within the process of selling a business where it can all go wrong.”

And, if it does go wrong, the financial implications for Gunner & Co can be significant.

The firm is paid only on completion of a deal, which Jeffreys says can take a minimum of a year to get through.

It’s leading these businesses down the route the FCA wants — to have fewer of these smaller companies

“We’ve got a deal currently that has been in the pipeline for over two years, which, if successful, would represent around 20% of our annual turnover.

“It might go through and it might not. If it doesn’t, I can’t just magic up another deal, and that’s tough.”

Regulation and consolidation

If the ongoing trend of acquisitions is anything to go by, Jeffreys and Gunner & Co certainly won’t have a shortage of deals coming their way. Recent research by the firm revealed that half of IFAs were looking to sell up in the next two years.

Although there are several reasons why, there is a notable increase in the number of those wanting to exit the profession solely because of regulation.

I would honestly never have sat in a job in an employed role and said, ‘I really want to own my own company one day’

“Given the number of hurdles the regulator wants these small businesses to jump over, one or two smaller adviser firms are feeling the pinch more and more,” says Jeffreys. “They are getting bored with regulation and are looking for a way out.”

One prime example of this, she adds, is the FCA’s ongoing advice review.

“The top 20 firms are being asked to go back seven years to show that annual reviews have been done and they can evidence it.

“A number of smaller firms are saying, ‘If this is the requirement, I can’t do that for all my clients so I’ll have to get rid of some.’”

She elaborates: “I had a call recently where the guy told me, if they [FCA] ask him to go back seven years, he hasn’t done his annual reviews. He is running scared.

“Smaller advice firms are under the cosh, regulatory-wise, and are generally feeling quite fed up. That is bringing more businesses to sale.”

I love business and I’m fortunate to spend all my time talking to people about their own business

Jeffreys says a lot of these business owners are simply not equipped to build out their teams “to really deliver what the regulator wants”.

She adds: “If we are honest, it’s leading these businesses down the route the FCA wants — to have fewer of these smaller companies.”

If that is the watchdog’s aim, it appears to be working.

The private-equity backed consolidators have spent the past few years on a relentless acquisition drive, snapping up dozens of smaller IFAs.

The Consumer Duty appears to have slowed things down for now — with these big firms under pressure to properly integrate the companies they have acquired.

“Integration and how they [consolidators] assess firms to buy, and what they do with them, are definitely evolving because of the Consumer Duty,” says Jeffreys.

“But their appetite to buy is not waning.”

What has changed, though, is the type of IFA they are looking to buy.

One of the best feelings is helping people to retire and realise the value of decades of work they have done

“The effort of buying and integrating companies is such that, for the most part, consolidators now want to buy bigger businesses,” says Jeffreys.

“This means the smaller IFA businesses, with £70m or less under assets, don’t have quite as buoyant a market to sell into now.

“If you go back five years, those consolidators were smaller and so what they were buying was smaller.

“Now they’ve grown, so what they want to buy has grown too.”

Juggling work and parenthood

As if running and building a business weren’t challenging enough, in the early stages of Gunner & Co’s formation Jeffreys also welcomed her son, Freddie (now six), into the world.

Smaller advice firms are under the cosh, regulatory-wise, and are generally feeling quite fed up

Like many working parents, she says, it can be tough getting the balance right — but she credits her ability to do so to a supportive network around her.

“I am really lucky to have a good support system in my husband and my family, so I can have time to go running and to work away a fair amount,” she says.

“I also have a great set of friends who are mums, and two of them own their own business, like me. We are all career led and we help buoy each other up.”

Jeffreys says that, when she is at home, she cooks all of Freddie’s meals from scratch and does “loads of homework” with him.

My friend said, ‘I think there’s a real gap in the market here.’ And that’s how it all started, really

“That’s probably why I don’t have too much guilt about going away,” she observes, “because I try and overcompensate when I am there.”

Jeffreys returned to work when Freddie was just six weeks old, and she says he’s never known anything different.

“He doesn’t ask, ‘Mummy, why are you going to London?’ All he says is, ‘Don’t forget my present.’”

A self-confessed introvert, Jeffreys says the time she spends working away helps her to reset.

“During that time, you remember being a person and not just being a mum. I have been really fortunate to be able to do that and embrace it.

“I can go away, be myself and not my ‘Mummy self’, come back and be a much better person for it. I’m sure that helps, from a mental-health perspective.”

IFAs are all just human beings. I love the ability to connect with them

Jeffreys is a big fan of Beyoncé, who famously once sang the number-one hit, ‘Run the World’. Spurred on by her musical hero, Jeffreys will literally be running the world over the next few years as she aims to complete her epic six-marathon challenge.

And when she isn’t busy running the world?

You guessed it — she’ll be running her business, running Freddie to school and listening to work-themed books as she runs.

The life of a business founder and parent, eh?

This article featured in the July/August 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

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