2004

As the business grew, we continually looked to implement new processes to improve our services. Client managers began sitting in all meetings to take comprehensive meeting minutes. This is something that still happens today and all clients are provided notes of meetings they have with their adviser within a week of the meeting.

The Applewood team grew to 18 and we started to consider new office space. We made plans to extend the current space but after hiring an external business consultant we were persuaded to look for new premises that would be more suitable to how we wanted to position ourselves in the market – so we began to put this plan in motion!

Across the year we also started to sponsor different events and supported a selection of charities.

Key events

• Client managers began sitting in all meetings to take comprehensive meeting notes
• Hired an external business consultant to help shape the direction of the business
• Began to sponsor different events and supported a selection of charities

What else happened in this year?

In finance…

Annual UK Inflation: 1.64% CPI
Bank base rate:

• 5 February 4.0000 %
• 5 August 4.7500 %

IHT threshold: £263,000

In the charts…

• Natasha Bedingfield and the group McFly were the most successful British pop artists of the year. The former topped the singles, album and download charts and the latter’s first two debut singles entered the charts at number 1.
• The Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas? was re-recorded, 20 years after its original release in 1984, and took 2004’s Christmas number 1 spot in the charts. It became the best-selling single of the year.

On the screen…

• Highlights of the year included the controversial The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s biblical drama, which was the 5th highest grossing film of the year and went on to become the highest grossing non-English-language film of all time.
• Michael Moore’s documentary Farenheit 9/11 was released, to further controversy and mixed views. Grossing over $222 million total worldwide, the film was the highest grossing documentary of all time.

Around the world…

• Feb 4 – Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room
• May 1 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, bring its total members number to 25.
• May 6 – TV sitcom Friends airs season finale in 10th and final season in US (52.5 million viewers)
• Oct 16 – Lionel Messi, aged 17, makes his league debut for Barcelona against Espanyol

In the UK…

• 11 June – Ken Livingstone is announced as the winner of the election for Mayor of London
• 14 July – The Butler Inquiry releases its report, mildly criticising the government in their use of intelligence relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq