25th Feb 2016 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - St James's Place PLC on Thursday lifted its full-year dividend by 20% as the wealth manager's operating profit beat analyst expectations.
Operating profit, stated on an embedded value basis, rose to GBP660.2 million in 2015 from GBP596.4 million, beating analyst expectations of GBP553.4 million, though IFRS profit before shareholder tax fell to GBP151.3 million from GBP182.9 million.
Net inflows rose to GBP5.78 billion from GBP5.09 billion, helping to boost funds under management to GBP58.6 billion from GBP52.0 billion.
St James's Place said it would pay a dividend of to 27.96 pence per share, up 20% year-on-year.
"Despite the continued uncertainty in world stock markets, the strong growth across all key areas once again demonstrates the resilience of the business and delivered another record year of new investments, funds under management and operating performance," Chief Executive David Bellamy said.
"We see a growing demand for sound, personal, financial planning advice as individuals recognise the financial implications of increased life expectancy, whilst being faced with increasingly complex options in respect of their investments. That increasing demand, coupled with the ongoing growth in the size of the Partnership, means that we remain well placed to continue our growth in 2016 and beyond, in line with our medium term objectives," Bellamy added.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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