International pensions group STM, which bought troubled SIPP firm Carey Pensions last year, is planning further acquisitions in the SIPP and pensions sector as its focuses on the UK.

STM says in its 2019 results out today that the group will be repositioned as a ‘UK-centric’ company.

It will focus more on pensions and life products and a new flexible annuity product will be launched soon.

Carey has been rebranded as ‘Options, for your tomorrow’ and will be relaunched soon as STM’s main UK brand.

Carey was bought by STM for £400,000 and still faces a court judgment following the so-called ‘Adams’ case brought by a client. It is one of several SIPP providers which have faced court action.

The new Options brand will offer a range of services including SIPPs, SSAS, commercial property, workplace pensions, auto-enrolment and third party administration. It will also provide specialist commercial property services for individual SIPP, SSAS and syndicates.

STM says in its results that the Carey acquisition is now “operationally integrated” and cost benefits should begin to materialise.

STM also says it has a “pipeline of acquisition opportunities, particularly in the UK” and will soon launch a flexible annuity product as an alternative to a SIPP.

For the 2019 company year STM reported turnover up from £21.4m to £23.2m although pre-tax profit before tax and exceptional gains dipped from £4m to £3.9m. The company has £17.2m in cash at the bank, up £1.6m on the previous year. The total dividend has been reduced from 2p to 1.5p.

STM chief executive Alan Kentish said: “2019 has been a year of transition for the group as we move towards a more efficient and unified business. This has meant that the 2019 numbers have included some additional investments in infrastructure under our revised Operating Model, and we saw a timing delay in the uptake of certain new business initiatives, however despite that, we delivered a statutory profit before tax of £3.9 million for the year.

“The completion of the Carey acquisition occurred in February 2019, with all operational integration now finalised giving us one solid UK hub for our SIPP and workplace pension solutions businesses from which to further expand. This expansion will be driven organically through the relaunch of our UK products under the new brand of “Options, for your tomorrow”. This growth will be complemented by selective acquisitions in the UK market.”

He said the current year has been thrown into turmoil with the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak but he believes the company’s focus on annual recurring fees will provide resilience.