Operating profit fell and money into the business fell - but do not go feeling too sorry for the biggest company headquartered in Gloucestershire.

When we say biggest company we mean by 'turnover', and wealth manager St James's Place plc might have seen a drop-off in business, but it describes its annual results for the year ending December 31 2019 as "solid" and declared its "confidence in the future".

'Solid' enough for its board to propose an increase in the final dividend by five per cent to 31.22 pence per share (2018: 29.73 pence per share) making for a full year dividend of 49.71 pence per share (2018: 48.22 pence per share), growth of three per cent.

We should also mention that while EEV new business contribution fell slightly to £793 million (2018: £852.7 million) and EEV operating profit also dipped from £952 million (2018: £1,002 million), funds under management grew to new heights.

Andrew Croft (pictured below), chief executive officer for the Cirencester-based business, said: "Last year was challenging for the UK wealth management sector with investor sentiment being impacted by uncertain macro-economic indicators, the US/China trade dispute, and the domestic political environment.

"Therefore, I am pleased to report a solid set of results. Positive net flows, together with the impact of positive investment returns, increased client funds under management to a record £117 billion, once again demonstrating the resilience of St James's Place.

"The fundamentals underlying the business remain strong and over time, increasing funds under management will generate increased returns. However, in the short term, our profit has been impacted by the more modest gross flows relative to the planned investment in the business for future growth."

He added: "The Parliamentary majority following the December 2019 General Election provides for longer-term political stability, which has translated into improved investor sentiment.

"This has consequently resulted in an increase in activity across the business with new investments seeing a return to good growth in the early part of 2020.

"Uncertainties remain for the UK and there are market concerns as a result of coronavirus, but we are encouraged by this start to the year which, together with the strength and scale of our business today, gives us confidence that we are well placed to continue to grow."

St James's Place is now represented by 4,271 qualified advisers across the partnership.