St James's Place posted record funds under management but inflows slow

Published by

Nicky Godding

St James Place offices in Cirencester

Cirencester-headquartered wealth management company St James's Place has revealed that its funds under management have increased to a record £109.3 billion in its interim statement for the six months to June 30, 2019.

But Chief Executive Andrew Croft said that while the business continues to perform well compared to others in the wealth management sector, the company isn't immune to 'challenging external factors'.

He said: "Given the uncertain macro-economic and political environment that continues to prevail in the UK, I am pleased to report a solid set of results for the first six months of 2019, once again demonstrating the resilience of the St. James’s Place business.

"Gross new inflows for the period, at £7.4 billion, were some seven per cent lower than the first half of 2018, and we are encouraged that gross flows improved in the second quarter versus the first quarter.

"Importantly, the continued strong retention of existing client funds meant that we attracted £4.4 billion of net inflows for the period, equating to 4.6 per cent of opening funds under management, 9.2 per cent on an annualised basis. These positive net flows, together with the recovery in investment markets, increased funds under management over the period by 14% to a record £109.3 billion."

The company has increased its number of advisers to the Partnership, and also boosted investment in its Academy programme. As a result, during the first half of the year the total number of fully qualified advisers increased by 3.6% to 4,096, with a further 446 individuals in training across the Academy.

Andrew added: "Looking further ahead, the fundamental financial planning requirements of individuals remain considerable whilst, at the same time, the availability of high quality professional financial advice continues to be limited. We are therefore confident that the strength, depth and quality of the growing Partnership, together with the investments we are making in the business and our distinctive investment management approach, mean that we remain well placed to continue to grow our business."

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.