St. James's Place annual results announcement 2020

St. James’s Place plc (“SJP”), the wealth management group, today issues its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2020.

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.

Robust new business and financial performance.

Financial highlights

• Underlying cash result £264.7 million (2019: £273.1 million)
• Underlying cash basic earnings per share of 49.6 pence (2019: 51.4 pence per share)
• EEV operating profit £919.0 million (2019: £952.0 million)
• EEV net asset value per share £14.49 (2019: £13.20)
• IFRS profit before shareholder tax £327.6 million (2019: £187.1 million)
• IFRS profit after tax £262.0 million (2019: £146.6 million)

Dividend:

• 2019 withheld final dividend of 11.22 pence per share to be paid as an interim dividend during Q1 2021
• Proposed final dividend of 38.49 pence per share (2019: nil); full year dividend of 38.49 pence per share (2019: 49.71 pence per share)

Other highlights:

• Gross inflows of £14.3 billion (2019: £15.1 billion)
• Net inflow of funds under management of £8.2 billion (2019: £9.0 billion)
• Funds under management of £129.3 billion (2019: £117.0 billion)
• We are now represented by 4,338 qualified advisers across the Partnership
• Achieved rapid and successful transition to remote working practices, aided by pace of technology investment
• Ambitious set of five year planning assumptions published today together with revised forward-looking dividend guidance

Andrew Croft, Chief Executive, commented:

“2020 was an extraordinary year for individuals, families, businesses and broader societies across the globe, with events shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic that began early in the year. Our lives have been disrupted and we have all had to adapt to protect the physical, mental and financial health of ourselves, our friends and loved ones, our colleagues, and the vulnerable.

Our operations and performance during 2020 were inevitably disrupted by the lockdowns and social distancing. However I am very pleased to report that our business has demonstrated real resilience and made further progress with net inflows of £8.2 billion for the year and funds under management closing at a record £129.3 billion. This outcome was possible because of high client engagement levels, our recent major investment in technology platforms, and the agility of our advisers and employees. Overall, I am very pleased with both our new business and financial results for 2020.

At the outset of the pandemic the Board made the difficult decision to withhold 11.22 pence of the 2019 final dividend, until such time when the financial and economic impact of COVID-19 became clearer. I am pleased to report that we have not needed to utilise those funds and, whilst the pandemic is still on-going, we now have the confidence to pay this withheld amount as a further interim dividend during the first quarter.

The Board has also proposed a final and full year dividend for 2020 of 38.49 pence per share, in line with our existing guidance which is to pay out around 80% of the underlying cash result.

Given the attractive market outlook for our face to face advisory business model, the scale of the business today, and the progress we have made in developing our technology infrastructure, we look to the future with confidence and in our results announcement have set out some of our key new planning assumptions for the next five years. I would highlight our ambition to deliver growth in new business of around 10% per annum which, with modest help from investment markets and continued high retention rates, would see funds under management grow to in excess of £200 billion by the end of 2025. Growth on this scale will require continued investment but given the success of our technology initiatives in recent years, we believe overall expense growth can be held to around 5% per annum thereby delivering additional value for shareholders through operational leverage in the cash result. In turn, we are intending to pay-out around 70% of the underlying cash result in dividends annually over the period.

In the near term, whilst we are encouraged by the moderate growth in new business we have seen in the early weeks of 2021, the external environment remains challenging. There remain difficult months ahead but as COVID-19 restrictions ease, we are hopeful there will be an economic recovery and we will see a return to more normal growth in new client investments. The demand for trusted advice is stronger than ever and I am confident that given the quality of The Partnership, the strength of our client proposition, and the resilience of the St. James’s Place community, we are ideally placed to continue to grow and deliver on our new five year planning assumptions.”

Enquiries:

View the full press release.