Mortgage Advice Bureau has acquired full ownership of Dashly, the technology and data company behind its mortgage monitoring and nurturing tool, for £2.8m.
The acquisition follows MAB making a strategic investment in Dashly early in 2025.
Announced as part of its trading update for 2025, MAB outlined its M&A activity during the year. In 2025, MAB acquired majority ownership of Heron – its AR firm with the highest adviser productivity – alongside new build sector firms Evolve and Meridian. It also invested in the expansion of First Mortgage in the South through the acquisitions of Lucra and London-based Kinleigh Financial Services.
In addition, MAB acquired a majority stake in UK MoneyMan, strengthening its later-life lending proposition, and invested in The Mortgage Mum.
The combined cash consideration of these transactions totalled £12.4m.
Adviser numbers and group revenue up in 2025
Mortgage Advice Bureau's 2025 results show that group revenue increased by 19% to c.£318m and the board expects to report adjusted PBT of c.£35.8m, representing 12% growth on the equivalent period last year.
The Group’s number of mainstream advisers was up 10% on 2024 to 2,135, with 65% of this growth driven by organic expansion from firms already in MAB’s network, and the balance reflecting new AR firms joining MAB. MAB says this marks the first year of material growth since 2022.
Adviser productivity continued to grow, with the average revenue per mainstream adviser for the period increasing to £157,000, a 13% increase from 2024.
Mortgage market outlook
Turning to the outlook for the mortgage market, MAB said refinancing activity strengthened through the second half of 2025 as a greater volume of fixed rate products matured. The number of remortgages and product transfers completed by its ARs during the year was up 12% compared to 2024.
The outlook for refinance lending is particularly strong: MAB’s fixed rate maturities are 19% higher in 2026, materially ahead of the overall refinancing market, which is estimated to increase by 3%. It is also seeing a "gradual normalisation" in product preferences, with two-year fixed rate products accounting for a larger share than five-year fixes. This shift has been supported by the easing of stress-testing and is further strengthening MAB's refinance pipeline for 2027 and 2028.
After a lull in house purchase activity towards the end of 2025, MAB expects a "modest release of pent-up demand" in early 2026. It added: "With affordability metrics improving, lending rules easing in certain areas and enhanced access to credit, there is strong underlying support for a gradual and sustainable recovery in purchase transactions."
Peter Brodnicki, founder and CEO of MAB, commented: “MAB delivered a strong financial performance in 2025, and I am pleased that our ARs are capitalising on a buoyant refinancing market which gathered momentum in the second half of the year and offers significant opportunities in 2026 and beyond. Optimism is returning among many of our ARs. It is particularly encouraging to see organic adviser numbers returning to meaningful growth, alongside improving adviser productivity and we see that trend continuing.
"2025 was an active year for M&A, as we consolidated our holdings in a number of existing businesses and added some high-quality strategic investments to strengthen our proposition. In 2026 and 2027, we expect to focus on integration and on optimising the margins and profitability of businesses brought into the group, which much of the M&A last year will support.
"Over the past five years, MAB has made record investments in people and in-house technology, building a strong platform to deliver on its ambitions. Since joining MAB as COO in September, Yaiza Luengo is already having the expected impact driving operational efficiency across the group. Her expertise in leveraging technology, data, and AI, to optimise performance and growth will provide important leadership in what will be a period of significant opportunity for MAB that will be leading the digital transformation of our sector.
"We remain focused on delivering our strategic priorities and medium-term growth targets, and my team and I look forward to updating investors on these topics at our Capital Markets update on 28 January.”
