St. James's Place Turns To Profit In FY19; Proposes Dividend Increase

(RTTNews) - Wealth management group St. James's Place plc (STJ.L) reported Thursday that its fiscal 2019 IFRS profit before tax was 708.9 million pounds, compared to loss before tax of 84.6 million pounds last year.

However, IFRS profit before shareholder tax declined to 187.1 million pounds from 211.9 million pounds a year ago. IFRS earnings per share decreased to 27.5 pence from 32.4 pence last year.

The underlying profit before shareholder tax was 218.9 million pounds, compared to 278.6 million pounds in the prior year. Underlying cash earnings per share of 51.4 pence decreased from 58.7 pence last year.

Total EEV profit before tax for the year surged to 1.69 billion pounds from 526.0 million pounds in the prior year.

EEV new business profit declined to 793.0 million pounds from 852.7 million pounds last year.

The company recorded full-year gross inflows of 15.1 billion pounds, down from 15.7 billion pounds last year, whilst net inflows declined to 9.0 billion pounds from 10.3 billion pounds a year ago.

The company's board has proposed to increase the final dividend by 5 percent to 31.22 pence per share, which brings the full year dividend to 49.71 pence per share, representing growth of 3 percent.

Looking ahead, Andrew Croft, Chief Executive of St. James's Place, said, "Uncertainties remain for the UK and there are market concerns as a result of coronavirus, but we are encouraged by this start to the year which, together with the strength and scale of our business today, gives us confidence that we are well placed to continue to grow."