Elston Consulting has expanded its team to meet a rising demand for its products as the popularity of its model portfolios continues to grows.

Tony Lord has joined the firm as an adviser relations manager. He has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, helping to grow platforms from launch to maturity.

Alongside Elston Consulting head of adviser relations Scott Adams, he will focus on working with new and established adviser firms to support their investment proposition.

Henry Vijayaratnam also joins as an associate in the investment research team.

Vijayaratnam completed the Elston Summer Internship in May 2024 and will report to investment director Hoshang Daroga and head of research Henry Cobbe.

Elston Consulting said the two appointments will strengthen the group’s capabilities as it “continues to bring its model portfolios capabilities to advice firms and DFMs.”

Elston has seen increased adviser enthusiasm for the Elston Adaptive range of portfolios, designed for accumulation and Elston Retirement range of portfolios designed for decumulation.

These portfolios are managed by Elston Portfolio Management and are available across most adviser platforms.

Cobbe said: “We are delighted to welcome Tony Lord and Henry Vijayaratnam to Elston. They will be an asset to our firm. This is an exciting time for Elston as we are seeing rapidly growing interest in the investment solutions we design.

“We are thrilled to be able to expand the team to continue serving the adviser firms we work with and supporting their investment proposition.”

Lord added: “Advisers are facing many different demands on their businesses, not least the need to provide consistent investment outcomes to their clients at a competitive cost.

“I am delighted to be joining Elston tasked with supporting advisers with their investment propositions using the high-calibre solutions Elston can develop for advisers.”

Vijayaratnam said: “I am thrilled to be joining Elston as a permanent team member following a summer internship, in which I learned a huge amount from colleagues.

“I am looking forward to making my mark in the financial services space and progressing my career with Elston Consulting.”

A HUGE mansion valued at £4.5million hides an incredible secret feature behind its front doors.

The Grade II-listed property in Lymington, Hampshire, has been dubbed every child’s “dream” home.

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The massive home boasts nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, five reception rooms, a detached coach house and a south-facing garden.

However estate agents Spencers say the house is guaranteed to “liven up any dinner party” thanks to its most unusual asset – a slide from the first floor to the ground floor.

The stainless-steel tube allows guests to descend from the first floor in style through a glass door and is designed ‘for those with a sense of fun’.

There is also a games room, library and a cinema while all the bedrooms house a full media suite and surround sound system.

The listings reads: “A second means of descending from the first floor is via a polished stainless steel tube slide which passes through a glass floor, designed for those with a sense of fun and a great talking point to liven up any dinner party.”

A Spencers spokesperson added: “It’s one of the unique houses in Lymington.

“It’s been designed around a certain lifestyle and with a life that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“The house itself has a huge amount of history and has been recently updated by the current owners in a particularly stylish fashion.

“Not every house that we market has an indoor slide. It’s quite fun.

“It’s the sense of fun that it brings. It’s a great family house. Good for kids. It’s really the whole package.

.”Everything has been designed around comfort and convenience. It’s designed as a house for someone to live in who wants to enjoy life.”

Spencers say the 8,000 sqft family home promises “great grandeur and history” and “imagination” and even sports a sunken ice trough “from which to serve fresh sea food or champagne”.

Many users have praised the novelty structure on social media, with one user commenting “we all dreamt of this as a kid, right?”

Another user posted: “Super cool.”

While a third user wrote: “If I won the lottery.”

A fourth person said: “I love it.”

Another unusual home went on the market last month and it would definitely (maybe) ideal for an Oasis fan.

Elsewhere, you could get your hands on the corner shop that featured in the hit comedy show Open All Hours.

If those properties are out of your price range then a terraced house in New Tredegar, Wales, has gone on the market for nothing – but you may want to take a look inside first.

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The Financial Conduct Authority has announced plans to review consolidation within the advice market.

In a letter sent to advice and investment firm bosses today (7 October), the regulator said there has been an increase in the acquisition of firms or their assets over the past two years.

It said that, while industry consolidation can provide benefits, various types of harm can occur where this is not done in a “prudent manner” with effective controls to promote good outcomes.

“We plan to undertake multi-firm work to review consolidation within the market,” the letter said.

“Where we receive notifications from individuals or firms to acquire or increase control in regulated firms, we will assess and challenge their suitability and the financial soundness of the acquisition.

“Where acquisitions complete without prior regulatory approval, we may use our enforcement powers to object to the transaction or initiate criminal proceedings.”

The FCA said it expects firms to get its approval to acquire or increase control in a firm it regulates.

A firm looking to do this must also ensure the “delivery of good outcomes” is central to its culture.

“Your leadership, governance, oversight arrangements and controls should be effective, adequately resourced, and commensurate with your growing size and complexity,” the regulator said in its letter.

It also expects acquirers or consolidators to undertake adequate due diligence of the selling firm or client bank and take into account its supervision review report and guidance.

And acquiring firms must ensure they hold “adequate financial resources” at all times.

“Where acquisitions are funded by debt, you should have a credible plan to service the debt,” the FCA said.

“This should be supported by realistic and stress-tested financial projections. Where you are an investment firm group, you must fully comply with our prudential consolidation rules.”

FAMILY packs of Cadbury chocolate have shrunk down in size, leaving customers anything but sweet.

Previously the popular assortment of 14 “treatsize” chocs contained Chomps, Crunchies, Flakes, Fudges, Twirls and Curly Wurlys.

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But new packs appearing in recent months have seen the Crunchie axed from the selection, as well as the size reduced from 216g to 207g.

But the price remains the same at around £3 for 14 treats.

Customers have blasted the change as they noticed the new packs appearing in supermarkets in recent months.

One review on the Asda site in September complained the bag was “smaller than advertised”.

Another added: “No Crunchie at all. Honestly not worth it considering eight pieces were Chomp and Fudge. Awful value.”

A third moaned: “Used to be good but no Crunchie in them less Flakes and Twirls and filled up with small Fudge and Chomp. Won’t be buying any more.”

Another fan on X said: “They have replaced the Crunchie with a Flake in the @CadburyUK mini packs. Frankly, am furious about it.”

Susannah Streeter, of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said chocolate makers were struggling due to the price of cocoa.

She added: “Soaring cocoa prices are threatening the profits of the big confectioners.

“Companies are trying to find ways to protect margins, and it seems consumers are being faced with another round of shrinkflation on some products.

“Although wholesale cocoa prices have come down from the record levels in April, helped by better weather in key producing countries in Africa, they are still more than double the level of this time last year.

“It doesn’t look like the price pressures will ease significantly any time soon. The world’s largest producer, Ivory Coast, has set the purchase price of cocoa from its farmers, at a record level.

“Consumers have already had to swallow some bitter price hikes and sales are now significantly below other snack categories, which is forcing companies to look at other ways of absorbing increased costs.

“Chocolate lovers may have to be prepared for further sleights of hand, as we head towards key events like Halloween or Christmas.’’

Cadbury did not respond to our requests for a comment.

The chocolate maker has recently shrunk the size of its Brunch bars by 12.5%.

The price of a bar of Dairy Milk shot up by 12% in just a single month in July.

Why are products axed or recipes changed?

ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders.

Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether.

They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers.

There are several reasons why this could be done.

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For example, government regulation, like the “sugar tax,” forces firms to change their recipes.

Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs.

They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable.

For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018.

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It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version.

Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year.

Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks.

While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.

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Cadbury said the hike was a “last resort” due to rising costs of cocoa in West Africa.

It has already hiked the price of Dairy Milk Coins ahead of Christmas.

The recommended retail price (RRP) of £2.19 is 20p more than last year, though supermarkets can set their own prices.

It came after The Sun revealed that Mars has shrunk the size of its Celebrations tubs.

The 600g box has been cut to 550g — equal to a reduction of around five sweets.

Mars blamed the rising costs of raw materials and operations.

Chocolate companies buy their cocoa up to a year before they manufacture and sell their products.

When an item shrinks in size but the price stays the same, it’s a tactic known as shrinkflation.

It means shoppers won’t pay more when costs increase for the company making the item, but they will get less product.

Smaller products are easier for customers to digest compared to increasing prices, making it a popular option for food manufacturers as it’s less noticeable.

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We are living through interesting times. There is a new UK government, promising an enduring partnership with business to deliver the economic growth we need.

This sounds very exciting, except it comes with rumours of impending capital gains (CGT) and inheritance tax (IHT) increases in the upcoming Budget, likely to achieve exactly the opposite.

These tax areas present real disincentives to investment in innovative enterprises, which might otherwise generate that heralded economic growth.

Any continuing meddling with CGT following the virtual destruction of personal annual allowances by former chancellor Jeremy Hunt last year will be challenging for those of us in the investment business.

Gains indexation allowance was removed in 2008, introducing a direct taxation on inflationary ‘non-gains’. In the meantime, personal annual CGT allowances (the annual exempt amount) have been consistently reduced from £12,300 as recently as 2023, to a mere £3,000 currently.

That is quite a big ask for an investment manager and the risk of getting it wrong is suddenly multiplied

This means an investor who bought shares worth £20,000 some five years ago (August 2019) and has just sold them in August 2024 for £28,051 (based on five years’ reasonable theoretical annual returns of 7%) would be in line today, beyond their annual CGT allowance of £3,000, to pay either £505 or £1,010 in CGT (at 10% or 20% depending on whether they were a standard rate or higher rate income tax payers).

Based on actual government recorded inflation of 33.66% over those years, their investment would need to equal £26,732 to have retained its purchasing power.

If, as seems likely in most cases, they are higher rate taxpayers, they would have net proceeds of £27,041 after CGT – a paltry ‘real’ inflation-adjusted return of 1.54% over the full five-year period.

It gets worse the more that is invested…

Moreover, the impact of any increase in the rate of this tax, which was already a tax largely on inflation and therefore doubly unwelcome, would make active portfolio management even more challenging than it is today.

Who but the bravest manager is going to sell an asset with a gain, paying up to 40% tax on virtually all, if not all, of that gain, to reinvest with the intention of building on that (now net) gain in a compelling replacement asset?

The justification for doing so could only be to recoup at least that ‘surrendered’ gains tax, before then seeking further actual gains within the replacement asset.

That is quite a big ask for an investment manager and the risk of getting it wrong is suddenly multiplied – by personal CGT allowances having been dropped to insignificant levels but also now the added risk of a higher tax rate, allegedly potentially, doubling (see table below).

On an inflation-adjusted basis, the outcome looks dire. But there is one way to try to mitigate these changes.

It involves converting actively managed individual portfolios (or even the most gently managed portfolios) into holdings in virtually identical portfolios but managed for groups of similar investors in portfolio-style collective funds – where, crucially, underlying trading is then exempt from CGT.

Portfolios can continue to grow, profit on profit, CGT free, via active management, so gains only come into play once when each investor finally cashes in any units/shares from the collective version of their portfolio.

Taking one final, across the board, potential CGT hit to initiate portfolio-style funds would create clean ‘portfolios’ for each investor going forwards.

Portfolio managers currently using model portfolios should consider moving clients into their own branded portfolio-style funds on a collective basis for groups of clients with similar investment requirements.

Alison Dean is head of investment oversight at Way Fund Managers