St James’s Place share price up after company hikes dividend and reveals strong operating profits for the year ended December 2015 despite uncertainty in global stock markets
Share price in St James's Place rose today as the company impressed investors with a healthy operating profit for its year ended December 2015 and a hike to its dividend.
The wealth management company reported operating profits of £660.2m for 2015, up from £596.4m in 2014, while profits from new business rose to £440.7m, up from £373.1m
The company also announced that it would be paying out a final dividend of 17.24p per share, bringing the full year dividend to 27.96p, up 20 per cent on the year before.
Share price in the company edged up after the results were released, trading up 0.7 per cent at 862.5p just before 11am London time.
"Despite the continued uncertainty in world stock markets, the strong growth across all key areas once again demonstrates the resilience of the business and delivered another record year of new investments, funds under management and operating performance," said David Bellamy, chief executive of St James's Place.
Funds under management also increased for the company to £58.6bn, up from £52bn at the end of 2014.
The wealth manager also reported that it would be setting up camp in east London later on this year, opening a new office in Canary Wharf in May.