Steadfast is on the hunt for more acquisitions, including brokers it considered before floating on the Australian Securities Exchange, MD Robert Kelly says.

“We are starting to look again at pre-initial public offer (IPO) candidates we did not have time to complete due diligence on, as well as a number of new candidates that have emerged thanks to the success of our IPO,” he told shareholders at today’s annual general meeting.

Mr Kelly identified about 220 Steadfast brokers and 390 non-aligned brokers as potential acquisitions.

“We are the natural acquirer of brokers within the Steadfast Group and have found increased interest from those that did not sell into the IPO, as well as from new candidates, due to the success of the float.”

The company expects to make an acquisition announcement before Christmas, he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “We have had interest from outside the group.”

He says cross-selling products and services will increase revenue. “Underwriting agencies is the other key area of growth for us via acquisitions, cost savings and cross-selling opportunities.”

Mr Kelly revealed Steadfast is working with subsidiary White Outsourcing on a common back-office platform for the network. It expects to start a pilot project in coming months.

He says creating broker hubs will remove duplication of back-office costs and create economies of scale.

“We have purchased 100% of 13 brokers and we plan that all but two will move into a hubbing environment,” he told shareholders.

The first hub – IRS Steadfast – was created from Indemnity Corporation and Finn Foster, and Mr Kelly expects to add two more wholly owned brokers to that hub very soon.

“Further hub discussions are well under way for major cities in Australia and we expect to have them complete by the end of this financial year.”

The IRS Steadfast hub will be followed by Melbourne, then Brisbane.

Other smaller brokers that are not majority owned may also become hubbing candidates.

Chairman Frank O’Halloran says first-quarter results indicate the company is on target to meet its prospectus forecast for next year.

He told shareholders 37% of Steadfast is owned by directors, management, employers and brokers who sold equity into the IPO.