Uncertainty might have been the immediate outcome of the EU referendum, but if there's one thing wealth manager St James's Place (STJ) believes has remained, it's the challenges of managing one's wealth. With life expectancy increasing and the growing desire of its core 45-year-old-plus client base wanting to help out children and grandchildren, there's clearly a service to provide. The group saw record net inflows of £1.7bn in the second quarter, helping net inflows hit £3.1bn for the entire first half. Inflows since the referendum have remained firm.
The total assets under management of £65.5bn were helped by the £1.3bn of assets acquired as part of its purchase of wealth manager Rowan Dartington, as well as a positive net investment return of £2.62bn. The group also paid £17m to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which levies finance companies annually. Andrew Croft, chief financial officer, said this was the second year in which the levy was "unusually high" but expected it to normalise soon.
A key plank of the group is also the growth in 'partner' numbers - essentially adviser businesses which join SJP. These hit 2,320, up 2.5 per cent since the start of the year.
Analysts at Numis expect embedded value to reach 795.4p for the year to December 2016, compared with 737p a year earlier.
| ST JAMES'S PLACE (STJ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 926p | MARKET VALUE: | £4.88bn | |
| TOUCH: | 925-925.5 | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,031p | LOW: 521p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.2% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 201p* | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 792p | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Gross written premiums (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25.9 | 104 | 10.4 | 10.7 |
| 2016 | 24.7 | 97 | 9.3 | 12.3 |
| % change | -5 | -6 | -11 | +15 |
Ex-div: 1 Sep Payment: 30 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £770m, or 146p a share | ||||
