A Financial Planning firm's profits have fallen after taking a hit from a £6.9 million levy from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

St James' Place said the seven figure FSCS fee had contributed to a fall in the first half of 2014.
Its profits before shareholder tax were £82.4 million, compared with £90.1 million for the six months to 30 June 2013.
The distribution side of the company also posted an £8.8m loss compared with £2.1m in 2013.
The wealth management business told the Stock Exchange in a statement this morning: "The 2013 result benefited from a one off amount of £8.9 million arising from a reinsurance treaty associated with a closed book of protection business.

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"By contrast the 2014 half year result has been negatively impacted by a change in an accounting requirement which requires the FSCS levy to be recognised in full immediately, rather than being phased evenly throughout the year.
"Consequently, the 2014 first half year result reflects an expected full year FSCS levy of £6.9 million, whereas the 2013 half year result reflected a six month charge of just £2.4 million."
Despite this, there was positive news for the firm in the form of new business figures, which showed of £447.9 million in sales. This was a rise of 20 % from £373.9 million in 2013.
New business profits came in at £181.3 million - up 19%, while operating profit rose 12% to £260.7 million.
The firm also reported its total number of advisers were 2,688 - up 9% over the twelve months and 4.6% since start of the year.
Its net inflow of funds under management stood at £2.44 billion - up 23% - while funds under management were £47.6 billion - up 19% over the twelve months and 7% since the start of the year.

David Bellamy, SJP's chief executive, said: "I am very pleased to report another strong performance from St. James's Place.
"As I have commented previously, we believe that there is a growing market for trustworthy, personal advice in the UK marketplace and these results once again demonstrate that fact.
"They also demonstrate that the scale and quality of the company's relationship based approach to wealth management, twinned with our distinct investment management proposition, which has been positioned to serve this market, is doing so."