“We hadn’t planned for a coronavirus-style event, but we just didn’t pay lip service to disaster recovery – we had an operational plan, that we knew exactly what works.”
Recent team conference calls conducted remotely have highlighted a generational difference, according to Mr Mattioli.
“The youngsters, unbelievably, are the people probably most affected by working from home.
“They actually really do enjoy the engagement of working in an office environment.”
On the other hand, he finds it “very peaceful” working from home.
“Everyone is different and... when you’ve spent a lot of money in developing your business for the future, you need to keep up with your people, so flexible working is just one of those things.”
On the trail
The company has completed a number of deals recently, with the purchase of The Turris Partnership in December 2019 for £1.6m and then Hurley Partners in March this year for £25.6m.
Mr Mattioli says that while the business continues to grow strongly organically, there are times when they want to add to the group stable.
“Equally, there are some good quality businesses who really want to join us,” he notes.
“That’s because those people know we will look after their clients, we will honour the relationship with the client because the client is at the core of everything we do, and long term we will be respectful and honour their commitment to their staff and people.”
Mr Mattioli adds: “We’ve not put acquisitions on hold but we’re probably not going to do any in the next few weeks.”
Our people
Mr Mattioli credits one of his first bosses, founder of Pointon York, Geoffrey Pointon, who passed away earlier this month after contracting coronavirus, for being an inspiration to many businesses.
“He was really visionary around integrated financial services businesses”, adding that Mattioli Woods “facilitates pretty much everything a client needs to run their financial affairs”.
“We’re an adviser, we’re an administrator, we’re a platform, we’re an asset allocator and we create and develop our own products,” he explains.
Mr Mattioli says if the company withholds employee bonuses this year, it will be the first time in 30 years.
But he also points out that staff understand the actions that the business is having to take in order to secure its future.
It is also important to him that the company operates in a “caring environment”.
He adds: “At Mattioli Woods we use this phrase ‘our people’. Clearly, it means our employees, but actually it means our clients and it also means our shareholders, because we’re a listed business, and it means our suppliers.
