Sequoia revokes dividends, chief financial officer exits

Sequoia will not pay any dividends in the financial year, revoking interim dividend it had announced earlier in the year of one cent per share, as an adviser exodus puts pressure on its revenue.

In addition, the group announced its chief financial officer Lizzie Tan has left the business, marking the most recent departure after chief executive Gary Crole left in July and Michael Ryan stepped down as chair in June.

Graeme Lay has been named the new chief financial officer, effective immediately.

The embattled financial services firm reported revenue in FY26 of $105.4 million, plummeting 15% from $124.1 million in the previous year. Sequoia said the business was directly affected by the First Guardian and Shield Master Fund failures, attributing the decline largely to the reduction in adviser numbers from 294 in July 2025 to 110 June 2026.

The group reported a statutory loss of $8.6 million in the financial year, dropping from a profit of $3.2 million in the previous year, following a loss on sale of subsidiaries, impairment costs and additional legal costs.

Sequoia interim chief executive Alex Fabbri said: "Sequoia faced significant challenges during FY26 and continues to manage legal and regulatory matters relating to its wholly owned InterPrac Financial Planning subsidiary."

Sequoia has been trying to wash its hands of InterPrac Financial Planning, which was caught in Shield and First Guardian collapses.

ASIC had raised questions over the divestment as successfully offloading InterPrac would have seen the Sequoia Group of entities divest itself of liabilities stemming from the Shield and First Guardian Master Fund collapses.

Recently ASIC withdrew legal proceedings, and Sequoia is back on the quest to offload Interpac.

"Notwithstanding these issues, Sequoia continues to selectively and actively assess organic growth options in its other businesses," Fabbri said.

The legal and administration arm of Sequoia generated $10.3 million in revenue.

"During the year it invested in marketing, technology and product development to support revenue and margin growth in future periods," Sequoia said.

"This included investment in a new anti-money laundering (AML) platform, which became operational on 1 July 2026."

Fabbri said the priority FY27 is to establish a path to resolving the legal matters related to InterPrac and affecting Sequoia, while continuing to pursue selected opportunities across the Group's other divisions.

"Once the legal and regulatory matters are resolved, Sequoia will focus on the strength of its diversified operations, which are at different stages of development," Fabbri said.