Standard Life share price: Company releases final results
Standard Life Plc (LON:SL) today released its full year results. Highlights are provided below, with more to follow:
**Driving performance and growth**
· Assets under administration1 up 4% to £307.4bn (2014: £296.6bn) in volatile markets, driven by net inflows of £6.3bn (2014: £1.0bn)
· Institutional and Wholesale continuing to meet the needs of clients with net inflows more than doubling to £12.6bn (2014: £6.0bn) representing 13% of opening AUM
o 67% of net inflows from outside the UK as we continue to expand our global reach
o Third party2 investment performance ahead of benchmark over 1 year: 88%; 3 years: 95%; 5 years: 90%
· Workplace and Retail demonstrating ongoing momentum with net inflows up 14% to £5.8bn, representing 8% of opening AUA
o Added over 250,000 new customers through auto enrolment contributing to 9% increase in regular contributions into workplace pensions to £2.9bn
o Increased Wrap assets by 22% to £25.5bn with record net inflows of £4.4bn up 27%
· Fee based revenue up 10% to £1,579m representing 94% of underlying income
· Group underlying performance*,1 up 12% to £630m and operating profit1,3 before tax up 9% to £665m, including £38m reduction in spread/risk margin, with diluted operating EPS4 of 26.1p
· Group underlying cash generation1 up 7% to £447m with effective tax rate on cash generation now at 20%
· Final dividend of 12.34p making a total of 18.36p, up 7.8% for the year
· Well capitalised under Solvency II with a stable surplus of £2.1bn5 and a solvency ratio of 162%5
**Keith Skeoch, Chief Executive, commented:** “During 2015 Standard Life has made considerable progress towards creating a world-class investment company against a backdrop of volatile investment markets and an evolving regulatory landscape.
“We have increased the assets that we administer on behalf of our clients and customers to £307bn with almost two thirds of these assets now coming from our Growth Channels. Investments are at the heart of what we do and we now manage £253bn of assets across the globe driven by strong investment performance. We continue to see the benefits of our expanding distribution capabilities and strategic relationships with 67% of net inflows of £12.6bn into our Institutional and Wholesale Growth Channels coming from outside of the UK.
“We also continue to build momentum in Pensions and Savings across our Workplace and Retail channels. Regular contributions into our workplace pensions continue to grow strongly while our Wrap platform attracted record net inflows and continues to lead in the advised platform market.
“While the difficult conditions in global financial markets may persist for some time, Standard Life remains well positioned to meet the needs of clients and customers around the world. The breadth of our investment propositions, underpinned by strong investment performance and innovation, combined with our strength in pensions and savings, the power of a trusted brand and a strong balance sheet, means that we have a well-diversified and resilient business that continues to deliver for customers and clients as well as shareholders.”
**Outlook**
The start of 2016 has seen difficult conditions in global financial markets which have negatively impacted asset values as well as investor and consumer sentiment. While these conditions may persist for some time and regulatory and political changes may impact the markets we operate in, Standard Life remains well positioned to meet the needs of clients and customers around the world.
The breadth of our investment propositions underpinned by strong investment performance and innovation, combined with our strength in pensions and savings and the power of a trusted brand, means that we have a well-diversified and resilient business that will remain strategically focused on driving growth and returns to shareholders.
As of 07:27 GMT, Friday, 19 February, Standard Life Plc share price is 338.50p.
