Shares in fund manager and life assurer St James Place (STJ) surged 6 per cent post results after the company reported a bumper set of figures. Half-year new business sales (on an annual premium equivalent basis) up 21 per cent year-on-year and embedded value-based operating profit, which includes an element of future cashflow, rose by an impressive 39 per cent to £233m.
Performance was good across the board. Funds under management, for instance, grew 29 per cent to £39.9bn - helped by a near £2bn net fund inflow. While the unit trust business saw its operating profit almost double to £25.3m. Even after stripping out a one-off £8.9m benefit from having entered into new reinsurance arrangements, the life assurance unit’s operating profit rose 37 per cent to £72.2m.
The fall-out from the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) is benefiting St James’s, too. RDR bans commission payments and has therefore forced many independent financial advisers to shut up shop - that, in turn, has boosted recruitment into the St James’s Partnership (the group’s own adviser team), with the headcount there up 6.5 per cent to 1,905.
Deutsche Bank expects full-year adjusted EPS of 37.8p (2012: 21.2p) and a year-end embedded value per share of 570p.
ST JAMES'S PLACE (STJ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 633p | MARKET VALUE: | £3.2bn | |
| TOUCH: | 632-633p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 643p | LOW: 333p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.0% | PE RATIO: | 19 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 166p* | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 524p | |
| Half-year to Jun | Gross premiums (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 32.0 | 85.0 | 9.40 | 4.25 |
| 2013 | 29.2 | 250 | 21.3 | 6.38 |
| % change | -9 | +194 | +127 | +50 |
Ex-div: 28 Aug Payment: 30 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £982m, or 191p a share | ||||
