Shifting its bias towards asset gathering has plus and minus points for Standard Life (SL.). Having 95 per cent of income fee-based affords more visibility, but in times of market uncertainty new business can suffer. This is what happened during 2016, when net outflows amounted to £2.6bn (from a £6.3bn inflow in 2015) as some retail investors cashed out.
The EU referendum and weaker investment performance resulted in net outflows of £0.7bn for its asset management division, with outflows most pronounced for wholesale customers, who took out a net £1.7bn. The flagship global absolute return (GARS) range of funds experienced £4.3bn in net outflows, due to a weaker short-term performance, says finance director Luke Savage. However, the institutional channel increased to £87bn, from £67bn, as private equity, real estate and multi-asset proved popular. Overall for Standard Life Investments, market and currency movements increased assets by a tenth to £278bn.
The pensions and savings business grew its assets under administration by a fifth, but a large part of this was due to its acquisition of Axa's Elevate retail investment platform. Increased pension contributions were behind the 13 per cent growth in UK workplace assets. Meanwhile, drawdown assets increased by a fifth.
Analysts at Panmure Gordon expect adjusted pre-tax profit of £683m during the 12 months to the end of December 2017, giving EPS of 29.7p (from £436m and 29.6p in 2016).
STANDARD LIFE (SL.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 374.6p | MARKET VALUE: | £7.41bn | |
| TOUCH: | 374.6-374.8p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 381p | LOW: 248p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.3% | PE RATIO: | 20 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 220p | ASSETS UNDER ADMINISTRATION: | £357bn | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 19.2 | 963 | 28.3 | 14.70 |
| 2013 | 16.8 | 645 | 14.2 | 15.80 |
| 2014 | 16.6 | 672 | 15.8 | 17.03 |
| 2015 | 8.89 | 549 | 13.5 | 18.36 |
| 2016 | 18.7 | 789 | 18.7 | 19.82 |
| % change | +110 | +44 | +39 | +8 |
Ex-div: 13 Apr Payment: 23 May | ||||
