IFP returns to surplus and pays back Shalton and Wheeler

The Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) has returned to surplus and repaid the £75,000 it borrowed from advisers Marlene Shalton and Jane Wheeler after it was hit by a cash shortfall.

The IFP made a surplus of £80,000 in 2009, after having lost £138,000 the previous year.

Director Marlene Shalton and then-director Jane Wheeler lent the IFP £50,000 and £25,000 respectively in 2008 as it struggled to meet the costs of its annual conference as markets fell and sufficient sponsorship failed to materialise.

The £83,733 surplus marks a stronger than expected performance for the organisation which had predicted a surplus of £65,000.

Nick Cann (pictured), IFP chief executive, said it was always the plan to repay the loans within the year, adding that the 2010 IFP conference was set to outperform expectations.

‘When we set out that was the plan, it was a very short term requirement,’ he said. 'Our 2010 conference has already exceeded numbers for delegates and sponsors.'

Shalton received £3,250 interest on her loan and Wheeler received £1,625. Wheeler has since left the board and now sits on the Financial Planning Standards Board.

The IFP has since appointed two new directors, Bruce Wilson and Brian Sweeney.