Merger News 2007

In the attachment to this letter, Andy is providing background to imminent structural changes to Emery-Little Financial Services (ELFS).

With effect from 1^st January 2008, a Berkhamsted based IFA, Cresswell Cadenhead Ltd will be moving into Ebenezer Chapel and merging with ourselves with the objective of providing a further enhanced service to our clients going forward.

The name of the new combined operation will be Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead LLP, we will encourage the use of the acronym ELCC.

As clients of Emery-Little you will notice very little change.  All of the existing ELFS team from partners, technical support and administration continue in their present roles.  ELCC will be based in Ebenezer Chapel with the same contact numbers as at present.  The only real change beyond the lengthening of our name will be a new logo that you will see on future headed paper, our website, which is actively being worked on for a relaunch at the beginning of the new year, and finally our email addresses.

Any attempts to contact us on present email addresses beyond the end of the year will automatically be redirected to our new email. 

The new business received formal authorisation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) earlier this week which is why we are only able to officially send this communication at this time.

On the 2^nd January 2008 we will be formally writing to you with a welcome letter from Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead (ELCC).  Attached to that communication will be a full contact list for ELCC. 

We appreciate that this is a busy time of year but when you have a few moments please read the attachment that provides greater detail and explanation on why we have taken this opportunity to expand the Emery-Little operation.

No action is required by yourself.  Having said this, if you do have any particular queries in relation to the birth of Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead LLP, please do not hesitate to contact us.  All your client records are automatically transferred to ELCC unless for any reason you do not want this to occur and you notify us in writing to the contrary.

As time passes and we are potentially talking on other issues, the opportunity will be there for us to clarify any queries that you have on the transition.

We wish to take this opportunity of thanking you for your support during the ELFS era and look forward to working with you for many more years as part of Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead (ELCC).

Finally we wish you all the best for the fast approaching festive season and for a healthy and prosperous 2008.  As in recent years we are not sending formal Christmas cards but instead have made a donation to the stroke association.

Yours sincerely

Andy Little, Dip PFS & Iain Rankin, ACII APFS Chartered Financial Planner

Partners

Read Attachment

Cresswell Cadenhead & Co Ltd – The Future

We are delighted to write to inform you of our plans for the future and to announce details of our plans to merge with a like-minded local firm of IFAs, Emery Little Financial Services (ELFS).

About 18 months ago we undertook a major review of our business, which we started in 2001. We needed to seek to develop and expand our operation and consider the next logical step for our business. Our key objective was to continue to be able to offer a good service and best quality impartial investment advice to our clients, but to seek to improve the way that we do this.

Although it has taken a lot longer than we thought to reach agreement, we are very pleased to be merging with ELFS and are extremely positive about the overall service that we can offer in future years. We have known the two partners at ELFS (Andy Little and Iain Rankin) for a number of years and we all feel that the combined entity will be stronger and offer not only a wider range of services, but a more structured level of service and greater all-round expertise.

The new firm will be called, after much creative thinking and debate, Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead LLP. We are dual-branding the new name with the acronym ELCC, which we will gradually encourage the use of over the coming months. It is certainly less of a mouthful and still reflects the origins of the new entity.

We have decided to make this step for a number of reasons. The most important reasons are that we want the best possible service for our clients and we want to spend more time doing what we do best, which is meeting with, advising and talking to our clients. Our belief is that the latter can only enhance the former.

We had reached the point at CC & Co Ltd, at which we were conscious that we needed to move to the next level and increase our staff base, get bigger premises and improve our systems and infrastructure considerably. At the same time, the regulatory environment places an increasing burden on small businesses; which led us to pursue the possibility of a merger, in order to create an organisation that was bigger, but still the right size of business that is able to keep a close relationship with its clients and to be personal enough to continue to care. Our ethos has always been to build long-term client relationships and this will not change in the new company.

In essence, we want to continue to spend as much time as we can with our clients, helping them to look after their investments, plan for the future and to be available to discuss your situation with you on a one-to-one level. Our value is where we are providing advice and spending time with our clients and this is the part of the process that we enjoy the most.

We will be moving office and will write again early in the New Year, with comprehensive new contact details and more information. The new business received formal authorisation from the Financial Services Authority last week and we can now officially make this announcement. The new entity opens for business on 2^nd January 2008. The new details are as follows: -

Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead LLP
Ebenezer Chapel
Bradden Lane
Gaddesden Row
Herts.
HP2 6JB

Tel: 01582 841222

In the meantime and for the initial few weeks, our existing telephone number (mobile numbers are unchanged), e-mail addresses and post will be redirected and we hope that there will be minimal, but no major disruption. We will also endeavour to call you before Christmas or early in the New Year to answer any queries that you may have and to explain a little bit more about the future. We are really looking forward to it and hope that you will continue to enjoy it with us.

No action is required by you to continue our business relationship, but if you do have any specific questions, then please do not hesitate to contact us. All your client records will automatically be transferred to ELCC unless for any reason you do not want this to occur and if so, you should notify us in writing to the contrary. If you wish to discuss this further, please call us.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and for working with us over the last few years. We look forward to continuing and to strengthening our relationship for many more years as part of Emery Little Cresswell Cadenhead LLP (ELCC).

Finally, we would like to wish you all the best for the festive season and a prosperous and healthy 2008. We are enclosing a newsletter for you to have a look at over Christmas and hope that you find it to contain some items of interest. We have decided this year that rather than send Christmas cards, we would make a direct donation to charity and have chosen to equally support Great Ormond Street Hospital (our usual Christmas card charity) and Cancer Research.

We look forward to speaking to you and seeing you again soon.

With kind regards.

Mike Cresswell
Managing Director

Peter Cadenhead
Company Secretary & Director