Retirement products provider Just is planning to pilot a ‘disruptive’ advice arm this year targeted at people with modest pension savings.

Its aim is to help ‘close the advice gap’ for ‘Middle Britain,’ says the firm.

It’s one of two new services the company is planning to launch this year. The other is a ‘guaranteed’ income product for retail investors using platforms.

The news comes as the company announced its annual results for 2019 which showed IFRS pre-tax profit bounced back to £369m after a loss of £86m in 2018.

The group is currently restructuring its Lifetime Mortgage division to align with new regulatory requirements but says this is costing £219m.

Adjusted operating profit was 4% higher at £219m in 2019.

David Richardson, group chief executive, said: “Although we are managing our costs carefully, we continue to invest selectively in developing new disruptive solutions that meet customer needs.

“We are piloting two exciting developments in 2020; one is to help close the financial advice gap for people in middle Britain with more modest pension savings; and the second is a highly innovative solution to deliver guaranteed income to retail investors who manage their portfolios on modern investment platforms.”

• Just chairman Chris Gibson is to retire once a successor is found.