Cross-border financial services provider STM Group has postponed the release of the company’s 2020 year-end results.
It is expected that they will now be published in early May, rather than 20 April as was originally intended.
STM, which acquired Carey Pensions in 2019, said that the “delay is due to the ruling in relation to the Adams v Carey case as announced by the company on 1 April 2021”.
The Adams v Carey case has been ongoing since 2018. The client sued the pension company after experiencing losses in investments made through his self-invested personal pension. At first, the high court ruled in favour of Carey, but Adams appealed the judgement.
On 1 April 2021, the court of appeal ruled that Carey did not breach the FCA’s Code of Business Sourcebook (Cobs), but it did side with Adams regarding the breach of the the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
The judge ordered the transactions be unwound and for Carey to compensate its former client. The sum will be determined by the court in a separate hearing.
Compensation
STM said in a statement on 16 April: “A significant exercise is being carried out to determine whether the ruling has triggered an event which would require a provision, as defined by accounting standards, to be included in the company’s financial statements and, if so, requires audit testing to be carried out.
“The inclusion of any such provision within the financial statements is not expected to have any impact on the net asset figure or the results of the business due to the claim being covered by the group’s insurance policy and indemnities.”
The firm said it expects to report 2020 revenues of £24m ($33.03m, €27.6m), Ebitda of £3.6m, profit before tax of £2m and net cash of £15.5m.
