Half-year numbers from St James’s Place (STJ) were “excellent results in line with market expectations of excellent results”, in the words of analysts at Berenberg. That strong performance didn’t stop the wealth manager’s share price from dropping as much as 5 per cent on publication, as investors digested a solid £5.2bn net funds inflow with recent memories of 2017’s blockbuster 20 per cent rise in assets under management.
Expectations must have been sky high because it’s hard to find much fault with the half-year numbers. Strong client retention and a 4 per cent increase in advisor numbers to 3,810 contributed to a post-tax underlying cash result of £147m. That fed through to a corresponding rise in the half-year dividend, despite £17m of investments in Asia, an advisor academy and the discretionary fund management arm.
If there was one sour point from these results, it was news that David Lamb is to relinquish his role as managing director of investments in early 2019, after 27 years at the group. The positive – for continuity purposes at least – is that he will remain in a part-time role as chair of the investment committee, as one time St James client Robert Gardner comes to the helm.
This year, consensus expectations are for adjusted EPS of 47.1p, rising to 57.6p in 2019.
| ST JAMES'S PLACE (STJ) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 1,184p | MARKET VALUE: | £6.26bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,183-1,184p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,280p | LOW: 1,051p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.9% | PE RATIO: | 41 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 188p | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 1,115p | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Gross written premiums (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 23.7 | 194 | 11.8 | 15.41 |
| 2018 | 22.1 | 93.4 | 13.1 | 18.49 |
| % change | -7 | -52 | +11 | +20 |
| Ex-div: | 30 Aug | |||
| Payment: | 28 Sep | |||
