A FIRM of financial of advisors is spreading its net ever wider in response to growing demand across the country for its specialist services.

Financial Management Bureau Ltd now handles financial advice for firms as far afield as the Home Counties, after taking on the advice service offered by two accountancy businesses in High Wycombe.

FMB regularly sends two members of staff down to High Wycombe to offer advice on a range of financial matters, from pensions and investments to tax planning, with the administration and support work being carried out at its offices at Shenstone House, on the outskirts of Kendal.

The extra business is expected to account for around 25 per cent of turnover for the company, which now has more than £250 million of funds under management and more than 5,000 clients on its books.

FMB now offers financial advice on behalf of more than 30 firms of accountants and solicitors, and managing director Les Beavis said the number was growing all the time.

With the increasing demands now facing the financial advice industry, more and more firms with small financial advice arms were turning to larger companies for help to serve clients' needs. Mr Beavis said FMB was large enough and had the expertise to compete with national firms of independent financial advisors. The latest to link-up with FMB is Furness accountants R.F. Miller & Co.

"We have the strength in depth to give companies the support that they need, We have a loyal workforce and a low turnover of staff, so we are able to build relationships with people much better. Clients don't see a different face every time they have a meeting with us," he said.

FMB has grown significantly since moving from Endmoor to larger offices at Shenstone some two years ago. The extra space has enabled the firm to recruit an extra ten staff in that period, taking its total workforce to 35, and further financial advisors are likely to be recruited next year.

It is a far cry from when Mr Beavis founded the business in 1987, having previously set up the pensions department of the former Provincial Insurance in Kendal. He was joined by fellow ex-Provincial man Dennis Hale as investment director, with businessman Allan Thomas more recently coming on board as non-executive chairman.