Resilient half year financial performance at St. James’s Place

Published by

Nicky Godding

St James Place offices in Cirencester

Wealth management company, St. James's Place plc has reported a rise in net inflow of funds in the six months to June 30.

The Cirencester-headquartered company continued its strong retention of client funds, at 96 per cent, with group funds under management of £115.7 billion, just below its December figure of £117 billion.

Chief Executive, Andrew Croft, Chief Executive, said: "The first half of 2020 has been an extraordinary period, both here in the UK and across the world, as the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted all our lives.

"We began the year with renewed confidence and momentum in the business as we saw investor sentiment rise following the UK General Election in December 2019, but this gave way to a challenging external environment in the UK as COVID-19 related lockdown and associated social distancing measures impacted the way we and the Partnership conduct business.

"I am, though, pleased to report a robust set of results for the first six months of 2020.

“Our gross inflows for the half totalled £7.3 billion, which was two per cent lower than the first half of 2019. Importantly, retention of existing client investments has been particularly strong, providing for net inflows of £4.5 billion.”

As the population at large recovers from more than four months of lockdown Andrew is anticipating a period of recuperation for the UK. “Nonetheless, from what we have experienced so far in July, we still expect new business flows for the third quarter to be similar or slightly lower in terms of value to the level of flows recorded for the second quarter.”

He said he is hopeful that as the country returns to work after the summer, St James’s Place will see momentum build through the final quarter.

The business now has 4,324 qualified advisers across the Partnership.

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.