Alan Fisher, chairman of financial advice firm Centrepoint Alliance Limited announced yesterday that the firm's managing director and chief executive officer, John de Zwart, will leave the company in November 2017. He is moving on after four and a half years with the financial services group. The Board has engaged an executive recruitment firm to search for a replacement. Fund manager Perpetual increased net profit by four per cent to A$137.3 million in 2016/17 and the stock rose more than five per cent on Thursday to $52.74, the AFR reported. More than five per cent of the stock is in the hands of short sellers, according to ASIC's data.