St. James's Place recorded an EEV operating profit up 36% last year to more than £900m - with the firm confident of 15-20% growth this year.

The company today announced operating profit on a European Embedded Value (EEV) basis – a key measure of profitability which discounts future cashflows - had risen from £673.6m in 2016 to £918.5m in 2017.

The annual report also paid tribute to co-founder and life president Mike Wilson CBE, who died yesterday. Click HERE for full story.

St. James's Place, which now has 3,661 qualified advisers across its partnership businesses, reported new business profit was £779.8 million - up 50% from £520.2 million. The number of advisers working across the group increased by 246.

Bosses said gross inflows of £14.6 billion (2016: £11.4 billion) were a record high, while net inflow of funds under management stood at £9.5 billion (2016: £6.8 billion).

Andrew Croft, chief executive, expects greater growth. He said management had “confidence that we will continue to grow our business, in line with our stated medium-term objective of 15 -20%, in 2018 and beyond."

He said: "I believe there are great opportunities ahead for St. James's Place. Our core target market is already large and forecast to grow further still, driven by favourable demographic trends and the accumulation of investable assets as savers take on the responsibility for providing for their own well-being in retirement.

“Meanwhile, the environment for UK savers seeking to plan their long-term financial affairs has rarely felt more difficult whether due to complexities around personal taxation, pensions freedoms, or the implications of a sustained low interest rate environment.

“As a result, demand for trusted, personal face-to-face advice has never been greater.”

He added: “Our future growth is dependent upon increasing the number of advisers and helping our existing Partners grow their businesses. It was therefore pleasing that during 2017 we grew the number of advisers working across the Partnership by 246, growth of 7%, whilst the new business per adviser increased by 19%.”