St James’s Place CEO Andrew Croft is to receive a basic pay rise increase of nearly £30,000 per annum after his pay package fell last year when the firm suffered a drop in Funds Under Management.
His base pay will rise this month from £590,947 to £620,494, up 5%, according to the wealth manager’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Mr Croft’s total remuneration package fell slightly last year from £3.141m the previous year to £3.115m, mainly due to his bonuses being cut.
According to the wealth manager’s Annual Report, a number of senior executives saw remuneration packages were slightly lower in 2022.
The firm saw IFRS post tax profits rise substantially in 2022 but inflows and Funds Under Management fell as the economic turbulence hit markets.
Chief executive Andrew Croft called 2022, “yet another extraordinary year.”
While 2022 packages were lower for many senior executives, Mr Croft and other senior executives have been awarded base pay increases averaging 5% this month.
The average SJP employee received an average 7.4% pay rise in 2022 and a bonus of 9.5%.
While many senior executives saw remuneration packages lower in 2022 there were significant increases in directors’ remuneration in 2022 with chairman Paul Manduca seeing his fee rise by nearly £70,000 to £375,000 (£305,948 previous year).
Other non-executive directors also saw significant fee rises with Simon Jeffreys receiving £181,537 (was £114,392) and Emma Griffin £154,021 (was £127,725). However, the report says most director fees will not rise this year or increases will be modest.
The company reported strong growth in IFRS Profit after tax, its main profit measure, of £405.4m, up 41% on 2022. The figure was helped by tight cost control and an unusual policyholder taxation element which boosts IFRS profits when markets fall sharply, as they did.
Mr Croft said while he was very pleased with the firm’s progress, last year was another challenging one due to market instability and headwinds.
He said: “The favourable external environment which emerged towards the end of 2021, with vaccination programmes in full swing and economies rebounding strongly, continued into the start of 2022.
“However macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions across the globe quickly deteriorated with high inflation, rising interest rates and the conflict in Ukraine creating a more difficult backdrop for many investment markets, companies and individuals worldwide. In the UK this was compounded by shifting political sands.
“Despite this, we achieved the second-best year for new business flows in our history. This strong outcome once again demonstrates the strength and resilience of our advice-led business model, and the enduring commitment of all in the partnership to supporting their clients.”
Mr Croft said the company remained committed to its 2025 ambitions which include increasing Funds Under Manager to £200bn.
However, falling markets caused a setback to the FUM plans with funds under management ending the year at £148.4 billion, down 4% compared to the start of the year, mainly due to market falls.
Gross inflows were £17bn, down 7% from £18.2bn in 2021 and Net inflows were £9.8bn, down 11% from £11bn in 2021. The dividend was increased to 52.78p, up 2% from 2021.
Growth in adviser numbers during the year slowed compared to 2021 with numbers at the end of 2022 up 3% year on year to 4,693 at end of Dec 2022 compared to 5% growth the year before.
The company had a total of 917,000 clients, a significant rise from the 868,000 the year before, underlining its role as one of the UK’s biggest wealth managers and Financial Planning-focused firms.
SJP is continuing to invest in digital technology and has launched an app for clients and free social media tools for its advisers.
