St. James's Place annual results announcement 2019

St. James’s Place plc (“SJP”), the wealth management group, today issues its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2019.

Watch the video below and hear from our Chief Executive, Andrew Croft, and our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Gentle, as they discuss our annual results for the year ended 31 December 2019.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.

Record funds under management and confidence in our business underpins 5% increase in final dividend.

Financial highlights

• EEV new business contribution £793.0 million (2018: £852.7 million)
• EEV operating profit £952.0 million (2018: £1,002.0 million)
• IFRS profit before shareholder tax £187.1 million (2018: £211.9 million)
• IFRS profit after tax £146.6 million (2018: £173.5 million)
• Underlying cash result £273.1 million (2018: £309.0 million)
• Underlying cash earnings per share of 51.4 pence (2018: 58.7 pence per share)

Dividend:

• Final dividend up 5% to 31.22 pence per share (2018: 29.73 pence per share); full year dividend of 49.71 pence per share (2018: 48.22 pence per share), growth of 3%

Other highlights:

• Gross inflows of £15.1 billion (2018: £15.7 billion)
• Net inflow of funds under management of £9.0 billion (2018: £10.3 billion)
• Funds under management of £117.0 billion (2018: £95.6 billion)
• We are now represented by 4,271 qualified advisers across the Partnership
• UK business successfully migrated to modern technology platform
• A+ rating in the latest United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment annual assessment.

Andrew Croft, Chief Executive, commented:

"Last year was challenging for the UK wealth management sector with investor sentiment being impacted by uncertain macro-economic indicators, the US/China trade dispute, and the domestic political environment. Therefore, I am pleased to report a solid set of results. Positive net flows, together with the impact of positive investment returns, increased client funds under management to a record £117.0 billion, once again demonstrating the resilience of St. James’s Place.

The fundamentals underlying the business remain strong and over time, increasing funds under management will generate increased returns. However, in the short term, our profit has been impacted by the more modest gross flows relative to the planned investment in the business for future growth.

Given the progression of funds under management and our confidence for the future, the Board proposes to increase the final dividend by 5% to 31.22 pence per share (2018: 29.73 pence per share) making for a full year dividend of 49.71 pence per share (2018: 48.22 pence per share), growth of 3%.

The Parliamentary majority following the December 2019 General Election provides for longer-term political stability, which has translated into improved investor sentiment. This has consequently resulted in an increase in activity across the business with new investments seeing a return to good growth in the early part of 2020. Uncertainties remain for the UK and there are market concerns as a result of coronavirus, but we are encouraged by this start to the year which, together with the strength and scale of our business today, gives us confidence that we are well placed to continue to grow.”

Enquiries:

View the full press release.