- Group profit before tax up 9% to £178.5m (2014: £164.4m)
- Fund Management Company strategy delivering with profits up 48% to a record £52.0m (2014: £35.1m), with an increase in performance fees
- Investment Company profit is 2% lower at £126.5m (2014: £129.3m)
- Continued momentum in further diversifying and extending the maturity profile of the Group's financing
- Return on equity of 11.0% (2014: 10.2%) and gearing of 0.49x (2014: 0.39x), both up on prior year
- Board proposes a £300m special dividend for 2015 and reaffirms its commitment to increasing the Group's return on equity to over 13% through growth and, by July 2016, re-gearing the balance sheet to within a range of 0.8 - 1.2 times
- Final ordinary dividend up 4.9% to 15.1 pence per share, resulting in total ordinary dividends in the year up 4.8% to 22.0 pence per share. Share buyback has returned £100m to shareholders during the year
