STM revenues drop following technical reserves release

Financial services provider STM expects to report a slight drop in annual profits on the back of a technical reserves release from its insurance division.

The corporate and trustee service provider told investors on Wednesday that revenues had slipped 0.93% to £21.3m in the year ended 31 December, dragging pre-tax profits 2.5% lower to £3.9m as a result.

Excluding a £500,000 technical reserve release from London & Colonial Assurance, STM said underlying pre-tax profits would have risen 15% to £3.7m.

In other news, STM revealed that it had appointed former Police Mutual chief operating officer Peter Marr as its new head of day-to-day operations, effective immediately.

Chief executive Alan Kentish said: "Whilst 2018 started off as a challenging year for STM, there is no doubt that our management team responded admirably and as a result of the Deloitte review we move into 2019 as a stronger and more robust business."

"2019 will be a year of consolidation and investment, but with a new enlarged and experienced Plc board, we will have all the building blocks in place for our ambitious short term growth and acquisition strategy."

As of 1130 GMT, STM shares had dipped 5.26% to 54p.