SJP hit by £6.9m FSCS levy

Its half-yearly report, published today (29 July) revealed the profit before shareholder tax for the six months was £82.4m compared with £90.1m for the six months to the end of June in 2013.

SJP also posted an £8.8m loss for its distribution business, compared with a loss of £2.1m in the same period in 2013.

SJP said the results were “negatively impacted” by an accounting requirement which requires the FSCS levy to be recognised in full immediately, rather than being phased throughout the year.

Its results said: “Consequently, the 2014 first half year result reflects an expected full year FSCS levy of £6.9m, whereas the 2013 half year result reflected a six month charge of just £2.4m.”

Furthermore, SJP has substantially raised its dividend following a strong first half of the year in spite of a slowdown in the number of new partners.

The wealth manager now works with 2,688 advisers, up 4.6 per cent since the start of the year, while partnership numbers rose 2.5 per cent to 2,007 in the same period.

The growth in partnership numbers slowed from 2013’s record growth but it still meant that 27,000 new clients used SJP services in the first half of the year.

The new clients helped boost the firm’s inflows by 23 per cent compared to the first half of 2013, as it registered fund inflows of £2.4bn.

The inflows meant total funds under management at the firm hit £47.6bn at the end of June 2014, up 7 per cent from the start of the year.

The strong numbers meant the wealth manager raised its interim dividend by 40 per cent and it said there would be a similar rise in its final dividend.

SJP’s chief executive said the slowing growth in partnership numbers was a return to a “normalised” level, following “two years of disruption in the adviser marketplace”.

But he highlighted the changes made to the pensions regime in this year’s Budget as an opportunity for SJP’s adviser business to play an “increasingly important role” in the industry.