4th Quarter New Business

St. James's Place Capital PLC 23 January 2003 ST. JAMES'S PLACE GROUP NEW BUSINESS FIGURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 St. James's Place Capital plc ('SJPC'), the Wealth Management Group, today announces new business figures for the year ended 31 December 2002. Enquiries: Mike Wilson, Chief Executive Tel: 0207 514 1907 Martin Moule, Finance Director Tel: 01285 878 015 Nitya Bolam, Brunswick Tel: 0207 404 5959 ST. JAMES'S PLACE GROUP SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT SERVICES While the long term business fell as a result of the difficult investment conditions, fees from the successful Wealth Management Services more than doubled. • Long term savings New Business* £154.7 million -22% New Lump Sums* £1.0 billion New Sums Assured £4.6 billion Funds under Management £5.9 billion • Wealth Management Services Gross fees generated £11.7 million +134% Total mortgages arranged £2.2 billion New bank credit balances £194 million * see note 1 Mike Wilson, Chief Executive, commented: 'We are delighted that business from our Wealth Management Services has increased each quarter, confirming the appeal to clients of dealing face-to-face with experienced advisers.' ST. JAMES'S PLACE GROUP NEW BUSINESS FIGURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 LONG TERM SAVINGS Unaudited Unaudited 3 Months to Year ended 31 December 2002 31 December 2002 2002 2001 Change 2002 2001 Change £'m £'m % £'m £'m % New Regular Premiums Investment 0.1 0.5 (80%) 0.4 1.7 (76%) Pensions 7.8 9.8 (20%) 29.3 44.8 (35%) Protection 5.7 8.2 (30%) 20.4 24.2 (16%) 13.6 18.5 (26%) 50.1 70.7 (29%) New Single Premiums Investment 140.1 190.1 (26%) 578.8 772.8 (25%) Pensions 54.8 85.8 (36%) 224.9 252.8 (11%) 194.9 275.9 (29%) 803.7 1025.6 (22%) Unit Trust Sales (including PEPs and 40.2 62.1 (35%) 242.3 313.3 (23%) ISAs) 3 Months to Year ended 31 December 2002 31 December 2002 Total New Business (RP + 1/10th SP) 2002 2001 Change 2002 2001 Change £'m £'m % £'m £'m % Investment 18.1 25.7 (30%) 82.5 110.3 (25%) Pensions 13.3 18.4 (28%) 51.8 70.1 (26%) Protection 5.7 8.2 (30%) 20.4 24.2 (16%) Total 37.1 52.3 (29%) 154.7 204.6 (24%) Revised Total 37.1 52.3 (29%) 154.7 198.9 (22%) (see note 3) ST. JAMES'S PLACE GROUP NEW BUSINESS FIGURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 WEALTH MANAGEMENT SERVICES St James's Place Bank Number of facilities 22,519* Number of new accounts 7,935 New mortgage advances £767.4m New credit balances £194.0m Panel Mortgages (Panel of providers excluding St. James's Place Bank) New mortgage advances £1,406.6m Portfolio Management Services (Laing and Cruickshank, Quilters) New portfolios £55.7m Employee Benefits (Swiss Life) Sums assured: Group life £56.9m Critical illness £8.2m PHI £18.9m p.a. Trust and Estate Planning Services (Simmons and Simmons, Halliwell Landau) Number of cases 616 Gross fees generated from wealth management services £11.7m * Number of facilities denotes the number of individual mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, current accounts and savings accounts, where a client may hold a number of facilities. The average number of facilities per client is 2.7. ST. JAMES'S PLACE GROUP NEW BUSINESS FIGURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2002 Notes 1. New Business is calculated following the convention in the life assurance industry, by adding together new regular premiums and one tenth of single premiums. New Lump Sums are calculated by adding new single premiums to new unit trust sales. 2. Sales of Stakeholder pensions by St. James's Place Partnership have been included in the reported figures. These have been included under 'pensions' and amount to £10.7 million regular premiums (2001: £8.3 million) and £17.5 million single premiums (2001: £6.9 million). This equates to £12.4 million New Business premiums. 3. During the second quarter of 2001 the tax treatment of self-employed pension plans changed so that premiums were paid net of tax relief rather than gross. SJP Group offered policyholders the facility to increase contributions so their net contribution remained unchanged. The overwhelming proportion of policyholders left their existing direct debits in force. This generated a one off increase in annual premiums of £5.7 million per annum. 4. Fees for Wealth Management Services were £1.9 million in the first quarter, £2.8 million in the second quarter, £3.4 million in the third quarter and £3.6 million in the fourth quarter, making a total of £11.7 million year to date. 5. The size of the St. James's Place Partnership decreased from 1121 to 1101 during the year. This was as a result of lower recruitment numbers than in 2001 and the Company's continuing policy of recruiting high quality producers and only retaining Partners who are likely to be profitable in the medium term. In the second half of the year many potential joiners, particularly IFAs, delayed their decision pending the outcome of the review of polarisation. There was also an increase in the number of leavers reflecting difficult market conditions. However, including those retiring, the Partners who left in 2002 accounted for only 4% of the Group's new business in 2001. 6. Calculation of Achieved Profits - to aid comparability with previous accounting periods, SJPC will continue to produce Supplementary Achieved Profits information for its core business on the basis of using smoothed asset values for projecting future cash flows. Additional information will also be given showing the effects of using un-smoothed asset values. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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