Appleton enjoyed an exceptionally good Q2 and it is greatly encouraging to see our business model achieving success each successive month. Appleton is an unashamedly specialist service and we have quite exacting standards for the Wills we draft and the estates we administer. That said, when you consider that the average house price in Cape Town’s southern suburbs falls between R4-8 million, the Appleton minimum Will value threshold of R3 million is completely reasonable.
In truth, we would like to see many more quality Will applications from our Warwick partners and of course our Merger and Advisory Partners each month. In this regard, we have been greatly encouraged by the quality and value of the Wills submitted through a number of the Warwick M&A partners in Q2 and we wish to express our appreciation for the trust placed in Appleton.
As ever, the service we receive from institutions ranging from the Masters Offices, to the Deeds Offices, SARS and banks remains uneven at best. The Cape Town Masters office in particular remains generally highly unsatisfactory and we have raised our concerns with government, parliament and FISA. Nonetheless, the Masters Office online portal has led to some time and efficiency gains, but there is still some way to go before full electronic functionality and operability in fiduciary services is achieved.
During Q2 we provided orientation and training to a number of new Warwick professional partners and we look forward to good quality business flowing from these engagements.
Before concluding, I wish to thank our Warwick partners for the business introduced in Q2, but also the Spirit Group for the support you have provided in IT, accounting, business intelligence and of course marketing. On this note, my thanks to the Appleton team and marketing for the great YouTube videos produced each month.
Finally, to the entire Appleton team, in my view you are the best in the industry and I am immensely proud to be your Managing Director.
I look forward to seeing you in the Gauteng and Free State regions in September when traveling up for the annual FISA conference.
