St. James's Place Slips To Loss In FY18; Net Inflows Rise - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Wealth management group St. James's Place plc (STJ.L) reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2018 IFRS loss before tax was 84.6 million pounds, compared to profit before tax of 342.1 million pounds last year.

However, IFRS profit before shareholder tax was 211.9 million, up 14 percent from 186.1 million pounds a year ago. IFRS earnings per share were 32.4 pence, up from 27.4 pence last year.

The underlying profit before shareholder tax was 278.6 million pounds, compared to the prior year's 245.1 million pounds. Underlying cash earnings per share of 58.7 pence increased 10 percent from 53.6 pence last year.

Total EEV profit before tax for the year was 526.0 million pounds, down from 1.29 billion pounds in the prior year.

EEV new business profit grew 9 percent from last year to 852.7 million pounds.

The company recorded full-year gross inflows of 15.7 billion pounds, up 8 percent from last year, whilst net inflows also rose 8 percnt to 10.3 billion pounds.

The company's board has proposed a final dividend of 29.73 pence per share, which brings the full year dividend to 48.22 pence per share, representing growth of 12.5 percent.

Looking ahead, Andrew Croft, Chief Executive, said, "However, challenging external factors, like those currently being experienced, are not in our control and the pace of fund flows has moderated compared with last year. I would note though that the inflows for the same period last year represent a very strong comparative and March typically accounts for around 50% of the first quarter's flows."

However, the company added that irrespective of external factors, it remains extremely well placed to continue to grow its business.