St.James's Place posts better-than-expected 1H FuM, still cautious on payout

Asset manager St.James's Place beat analysts' estimates on many metrics for the second half of its financial year, posting funds under management of £115.7bn, with both gross inflows and net inflows edging past forecasts.

At 140%, the group's solvency ratio was also well ahead of some analysts' estimates.

Over the same period, the group's IFRS profit after tax did nearly quadrupled to £178.1m, coming in far ahead of estimates. However, the underlying cash result of £114.4m was slightly worse than the £116bn that the consensus had penciled-in.

As well, management said that "there remains significant uncertainty for the world ahead."

Hence the decision to continue retaining one third of the 2019 dividend and to postpone the decision on the 2020 payout until February "when we believe we will be in a stronger position to assess the impact that COVID-19 has had on our business."

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