20th Mar 2025 11:30
20 March 2025
Quilter plc
Annual Report and Accounts 2024 and Notice of Annual General Meeting 2025
Quilter plc (the "Company") announces that copies of the following documents have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism:
1. | Annual Report and Accounts 2024 (the "2024 Annual Report"); |
2. | Notice of Annual General Meeting 2025 (the "Notice"); and |
3. | Forms of Proxy for the Annual General Meeting 2025. |
These documents will be posted to shareholders on Wednesday 2 April 2025. The 2024 Annual Report is also available to view online at plc.quilter.com/annualreport and the Notice is available online at plc.quilter.com/gm.
Annual General Meeting
The Company's 2025 Annual General Meeting (the "2025 AGM") will be held on Thursday 22 May 2025 at 11:00am (UK time) at Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4AB. Please ensure you check plc.quilter.com/gm regularly for up to date information about our AGM arrangements.
Key dates for shareholders
The table below shows the key dates for shareholders in respect of the 2025 AGM.
Posting record date | Posting date | Last day to trade* | Proxy date for registered holders | Record date to attend and vote | Date of 2025 AGM | |
Holdings on the London Stock Exchange | Thursday 20 March 2025 | Wednesday 2 April 2025 | - | Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 11:00am (UK time) | Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 6:30pm (UK time) | Thursday 22 May 2025 at 11:00am (UK time) |
Holdings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange | Thursday 20 March 2025 | Wednesday 2 April 2025 | Thursday 15 May 2025 | Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 12:00pm (SA time) | Tuesday 20 May 2025 at 7:30pm (SA time) | Thursday 22 May 2025 at 12:00pm (SA time) |
*Last Day to Trade is applicable only to holders on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Holders can trade their shares up to the close of business on this date and thereafter the register is closed for the purposes of determining which holders are entitled to vote in respect of the 2025 AGM.
Market purchase of own shares
Pursuant to UK Listing Rule 9.6.4, in addition to renewing the Company's existing authority to make market purchases of its own shares, the Company announces that it intends to propose a resolution at the 2025 AGM seeking authorisation to enter into contingent purchase contracts with each of: (a) J.P. Morgan Equities South Africa Proprietary Limited; and (b) Goldman Sachs International. The commercial purpose of this authority is to enable the Company to purchase up to a maximum of 140,410,549 ordinary shares of the Company which are currently listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (such maximum to be reduced by any purchases made pursuant to any general authority of the Company to make market purchases of its own shares).
Full details in respect of the proposed resolution are set out in the Notice.
Additional information
Information required to be communicated in unedited full text is included in the 2024 Annual Report which will shortly be available for inspection on the National Storage Mechanism.
The following information is extracted from the 2024 Annual Report and should be read in conjunction with the Quilter plc 2024 Full Year Results announcement issued on Wednesday 5 March 2025. Both documents can be found at plc.quilter.com/investor-relations and together constitute the material required by DTR 6.3.5 to be communicated to the media in unedited full text through a Regulatory Information Service. This material is not a substitute for reading the 2024 Annual Report in full.
Principal risks and uncertainties
During 2024, the Quilter plc Board Risk Committee has overseen the organisation's risk profile, focusing on the Level 1 risk categories, which describe the principal areas of risk exposure for Quilter. The table below sets out Quilter's principal risks and uncertainties, including Executive Committee member ownership and key mitigants being implemented by management. The risk trend noted is the overall residual risk trend (after the application of risk controls) throughout 2024.
Business strategy and performance Quilter's principal revenue streams are related to the value of assets under management and, as such, Quilter is exposed to the condition of global economic markets. Geopolitical risk remains elevated due to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. These risks have the potential to impact the global economy through increases in inflation, impacting economic growth and equity markets.
Throughout 2024, external economic conditions benefitted Quilter's business model, reflected in improved flows over the year. The changes implemented by the new Labour Government in the October 2024 Budget to taxation, spending, borrowing, and fiscal rules are being monitored for their effect on Quilter's forward strategy.
Quilter has continued its transformation journey during 2024, through strategic initiatives relating to business efficiency, cost reduction and proposition enhancement. Quilter's focus is to maintain the pace of strategic delivery and agility in order to continue to provide a compelling proposition in a rapidly changing industry.
| Primary risk owner Chief Financial Officer | Mitigation in 2024 • Continued successful cost reduction and maintenance of operating margin within target. • Continuation of Wealth and Advice transformation programmes. • Implementation of the Quilter Partners initiative and onboarding of initial partner firms. • Relaunch of the Financial Adviser Academy.
Planned and ongoing activity • Activities to support adviser and Investment Manager retention. • Ongoing management and delivery of business transformation programmes. • Integration of NuWealth.
| Risk trend Stable |
Business operation Operational complexity and the efficacy of controls and processes related to the day-to-day running of the business pose an inherent risk to Quilter. This includes those processes which have been outsourced to third parties and where oversight is critical for Quilter to gain assurance over activities delegated outside of its direct control. Quilter's operations provide services to customers and, as such, need to be effective and resilient to ensure that good customer outcomes are delivered and maintained. Quilter has continued to progress the enhancement of its operational environment and improving resilience across the business to ensure compliance with our operational resilience obligations.
| Primary risk owner Chief Operating Officer
| Mitigation in 2024 • Ongoing business simplification activity. • Enhancements to root cause analysis reporting, supporting improvement activity. • Enhancements to customer servicing workflow tools.
Planned and ongoing activity • Operational transformation programme to further align and streamline operational processes across the Affluent segment. • Stress-testing activities and further development of playbooks for significant resilience events. • Maintenance and review of operational resilience arrangements, including our Important Business Services, to ensure continued alignment with regulatory requirements.
| Risk trend Stable |
Technology and security A stable, reliable, and up-to-date technology environment underpins the delivery of Quilter's services to customers and advisers and ensures that Quilter has technical resilience proportionate to its risk appetite. Disruption to the stability and availability of Quilter's technology, or that of its third parties, could result in damaging service outages and a potential breach of impact tolerances for Quilter's Important Business Services. The risk of an information security incident is a constant and evolving risk which has the potential to impact Quilter's reputation, regulatory standing, and the services it provides to customers. | Primary risk owner Chief Operating Officer
| Mitigation in 2024 • After migrating the International business to Utmost in late 2023, Quilter decommissioned related IT assets in early 2024, reducing the organisation's risk profile. • A threat-led security testing approach was implemented which simulates real-world cyber attacks. Key parts of the Security Operations Centre were brought in-house for better control and deeper understanding of Quilter's IT infrastructure and business model.
Planned and ongoing activity • Continuous evolution of controls to prevent and detect incidents. This ongoing effort, driven by a threat-led capability, enables Quilter to keep ahead of emerging threats and maintain robust security measures.
| Risk trend Stable |
Customer and product proposition Quilter's purpose is underpinned by having a suite of product propositions which drive good customer outcomes and processes in place to ensure that foreseeable harm is identified and addressed. Oversight and reporting of customer outcomes has evolved and been enhanced in 2024, following implementation of the Consumer Duty in 2023. Delivery of quality advice and a high level of adviser conduct and competency, is essential. A lack of robust oversight by Quilter could lead to delayed identification of unsuitable advice or products resulting in poor outcomes for customers. As such, Quilter continually looks to improve its control environment in relation to the oversight of advice and remains focused on ensuring that products and services are designed and maintained in line with the Consumer Duty. | Primary risk owner Chief Distribution Officer
| Mitigation in 2024 • Evolution and enhancement of the oversight and reporting of customer outcomes. • Introduction of a customer roadmap to drive improvements in customer experience. • Vulnerable customer training rolled out to all staff. • A number of propositional developments including implementation of CashHub on Platform and continued alignment of investment proposition across multi-asset funds.
Planned and ongoing activity • Continue to strengthen financial advice processes and supporting controls. • Continued evolution of Quilter's products with a focus on retirement and protection propositions.
| Risk trend Stable |
Regulatory, tax and legal Quilter is subject to conduct and prudential regulation in the UK, provided by the FCA and PRA, and by local regulators in the other jurisdictions in which it operates. This includes the Consumer Duty, which sets a higher standard of consumer protection in financial services. Quilter is also subject to the privacy regulations enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office and international equivalents. Quilter faces risks associated with compliance with these regulations, and changes to regulation or regulatory focus in the markets in which Quilter operates and other statutory requirements. Failure to manage regulatory, tax or legal compliance effectively could result in censure, fines or prohibitions which could impact business performance and reputation. | Primary risk owner Chief Risk Officer | Mitigation in 2024 • Activity underway following delivery of the first Consumer Duty Board report and the mitigation of risk associated with the Ongoing Advice Review.
Planned and ongoing activity • Further process and control enhancements in association with the Skilled Person Review. • Ongoing regulatory engagement and regulatory horizon scanning. • Development of implementation plan for the upcoming changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code.
| Risk trend Increasing |
People Quilter relies on its talent to deliver service to customers and to progress strategic initiatives. Quilter's talent pool is key to the ongoing progress of the Company by having a diverse range of staff and views that will provide the senior management of the future. We seek to proactively identify talent gaps to support the future capabilities required to implement Quilter's strategy.
Ensuring that staff and management stand behind Quilter's values which underpin the culture of the firm is fundamental to a proactive, risk aware firm which values its people and the need to uphold its regulatory obligations. Negative management culture and a lack of accountability can lead to inertia and a deterioration in control which puts both customers and the firm at risk. | Risk owner HR Director | Mitigation in 2024 • Dependency and resource mapping to support strategic initiatives to identify and retain key capabilities. • Development of Talent Strategy to support longer-term strategic ambition/initiatives. • Culture and value transformation, including refreshed purpose and values. • Segment-specific and Quilter-wide communication to support greater employee engagement
Planned and ongoing activity • Ongoing talent management and succession programme. • Ongoing regular employee engagement surveys. • Ongoing all-employee conferences.
| Risk trend Stable |
Statement of Directors' responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and the financial statements
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the Group and Parent Company financial statements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Company law requires the Directors to prepare Group and Parent Company financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the Directors have prepared the Group financial statements in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards and the Parent Company financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (comprising FRS 101 "Reduced Disclosure Framework" and applicable law). In preparing the Group financial statements, the Directors have also elected to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IFRSs as issued by IASB).
Under company law, the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and Parent Company and of the profit or loss of the Group for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Directors are required to:
· | select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; |
· | state whether applicable UK-adopted international accounting standards and IFRSs issued by IASB have been followed for the Group financial statements; |
· | state whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101, have been followed for the parent Company financial statements, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; |
· | make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and |
· | prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group and Parent Company will continue in business. |
The Directors are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Group and Parent Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors are also responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group's and the Parent Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group and Parent Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements and the Directors' Remuneration Report comply with the Companies Act 2006.
The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Parent Company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Directors' confirmations
The Directors consider that the Annual Report and the Group and Parent Company financial statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the Group's and Parent Company's position and performance, business model and strategy.
Each of the Directors, whose names and functions are listed in the Governance Report, confirm that, to the best of our knowledge:
· | the Group financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards and IFRSs issued by IASB, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Group; |
· | the Parent Company financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 101, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities and financial position of the Parent Company; and |
· | the Strategic Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Group and Parent Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face. |
Signed on behalf of the Board
Steven Levin Chief Executive Officer | Mark Satchel Chief Financial Officer |
5 March 2025
40: Related party transactions
In the normal course of business, the Group enters into transactions with related parties. Loans to related parties are conducted on an arm's length basis and are not material to the Group's results. There were no transactions with related parties during the current year or the prior year which had a material effect on the results or financial position of the Group.
40(a): Transactions with key management personnel
Key management personnel are those persons having authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the Group, directly or indirectly, including any Director (whether executive or otherwise) of the Group. Details of the compensation paid to the Board of Directors as well as their shareholdings in the Company are disclosed in the Directors' Remuneration Report.
40(a)(i): Key management personnel compensation
31 December 2024 £'000 | 31 December 2023 £'000 | |
Salaries and other short-term employee benefits | 7,292 | 7,471 |
Post-employment benefits | 98 | 83 |
Share-based payments | 4,393 | 2,650 |
Termination benefits | 365 | - |
Total compensation of key management personnel | 12,148 | 10,204 |
40(a)(ii): Key management personnel transactions
Key management personnel and members of their close family have undertaken transactions with the Group in the normal course of business.
The Group's products are available to all employees of the Group on preferential staff terms, the impact of which is immaterial to the Group's financial statements. During 2024, key management personnel and their close family members contributed £1 million (2023: £2 million) to Group pensions and investments (in both internal and external funds). The total value of investments in Group pensions and investment products by key management personnel serving at any point during the year and their close family members was £13 million at the end of the year (2023: £11 million).
As disclosed in the Directors' Report, the Company maintains Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance and third-party indemnity provisions are in place for the benefit of the Company's Directors.
40(b): Associates
During 2023 and 2024, IT services were provided to the Group by 360 Dot Net Limited, an associate of the Group. During 2024, Beals Mortgage and Financial Services Limited, and its subsidiary, Clinton Kennard Associates Ltd became associates of the Group. Beals Mortgage and Financial Services Limited and Clinton Kennard Associates Ltd are also Appointed Representatives of the Group. Transactions between the Group and its associates took place in the normal course of business and had no material impact on the Group's financial statements.
40(c): Other related parties
Details of the Group's staff pension schemes are provided in note 34. Transactions between the Group and the Group's staff pension schemes are made in the normal course of business.
- ends -
Enquiries:
Investor Relations: John-Paul Crutchley
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Tel: +44 (0)7741 385 251 |
Company Secretary: Clare Barrett
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Tel: +44 (0)207 002 7072 |
Press: Tim Skelton-Smith |
Tel: +44 (0)7824 145 076
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Registrars:
Shareholders on the UK Register: | |
Equiniti
| Website: help.shareview.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)333 207 5953* Please use the country code when contacting Equiniti from outside the UK.
*Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:30 and 17:30 (UK time), excluding public holidays in England and Wales.
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Shareholders on the South African Register: | |
JSE Investor Services (Pty) Limited
| Email: [email protected]
Tel: 086 140 0110/086 154 6566* (calling from South Africa) Tel: +27 11 029 0251/+27 11 029 0253* (calling from overseas)
*Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 16:30, excluding public holidays. |
About Quilter plc:
Quilter plc is a leading provider of financial advice, investments and wealth management, committed to being the UK's best wealth manager for clients and their advisers.
Quilter oversees £119.4 billion in customer investments as at 31 December 2024.
It has an adviser and customer offering spanning: financial advice, investment platforms, multi-asset investment solutions, and discretionary fund management.
The business is comprised of two segments: Affluent and High Net Worth.
Affluent encompasses the financial planning business, Quilter Financial Planning, the Quilter Investment Platform and Quilter Investors, the multi-asset investment solutions business.
High Net Worth includes the discretionary fund management business, Quilter Cheviot, together with Quilter Cheviot Financial Planning.
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