St James's Place beats city expectations - papers 26th July

According to the paper, the wealth management group believes it has benefited from new pensions rules and soaring sales of investment products. Pre-tax operating profits jumped to £80.3m from £53m - around 10% higher than many analysts' forecasts. St James's Place, which is 60% owned by HBOS, the banking group, said new business rose by 55% to £160.9m. Between April and June, new business reached £91.5m - a record for a single quarter. New business profits jumped by 83% from £28.1m to £51.5m as margins increased to 32% against 27.1% a year ago. Mike Wilson, the chairman, said St Ja...