Highlights:
- Total funds under management were £29.2 billion at 31 December 2015, up 7.4% from £27.2 billion at 31 December 2014. The FTSE 100 Index decreased by 4.9% and the FTSE WMA Balanced Index decreased by 0.2% over the same period.
- The total net annual growth rate of funds under management for Investment Management was 5.7% (2014: 19.6%). This comprised £0.7 billion of acquired inflows (2014: £3.2 billion including £2.6 billion in relation to the Jupiter Asset Management and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management transactions) and £0.7 billion of net organic growth (2014: £0.8 billion). The underlying rate of net organic growth was 3.0% in 2015 (2014: 4.0%).
- Unit Trusts saw gross sales of £0.9 billion in 2015 (2014: £1.0 billion), and funds under management increase by 24.0% to £3.1 billion at 31 December 2015 (2014: £2.5 billion).
- Underlying operating income in Investment Management of £209.0 million for the year ended 31 December 2015 (2014: £185.4 million) represents an increase of 12.7%. The average FTSE 100 Index was 6415 on our quarterly billing dates (2014: 6657), a decrease of 3.6%.
- Underlying operating expenses increased 14.1% to £158.8 million largely reflecting growth of the business, higher performance-based staff costs and salary inflation.
- Underlying profit before tax (excluding acquisition-related costs, head office relocation costs and charges in relation to client relationships and goodwill) increased 14.3% to £70.4 million from £61.6 million. Underlying earnings per share increased by 14.3% to 117.0p (2014: 102.4p).
- Profit before tax was £58.6 million for the year ended 31 December 2015, an increase of 28.2%, compared to £45.7 million in 2014. Basic earnings per share increased 28.2% to 97.4p (2014: 76.0p).
- The board recommends a final dividend of 34p for 2015 (2014: 33p), making a total of 55p for the year (2014: 52p), an increase of 5.8% on 2014.
