St James's Place net inflows more than halve, FuM grows in Q1

Financial advisory St James's Place said on Tuesday that net inflows had more than halved in Q1 but said funds under management had grown on the back of solid investment returns.

Net inflows fell from £2.0bn a year ago to £710.0m in the three months ended 31 March as outflows remain at an "elevated level", continuing a trend seen across the industry, as clients continued to draw upon their savings to meet continued financial needs. Gross inflows of £3.97bn were slightly lower than the £4.17bn recorded at the same time twelve months ago.

Closing funds under management shot up from £153.62 in Q123 to £179.04bn in Q124, primarily driven by a "strong period of investment returns". FUM also benefited from £700.0m of net inflows, further extending the group's track record of generating net inflows every quarter. STJ's funds under management retention rate was 94.6%, down slightly from 95.9%.

Chief executive Mark FitzPatrick said: "We are making good progress with our review of the business, and I look forward to sharing the outcomes alongside our half-year results in the summer. We also continue to move forward with our significant programmes of work to review historic client servicing records and to implement the new charging structure that we announced last October. Both programmes are proceeding in line with our plans and expectations, and the financial guidance associated with each of these remains unchanged.

"While the outlook for the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, our business is fundamentally in good shape as we continue to build our client base, grow adviser headcount, increase funds under management, and deliver for our clients. This means we are very well placed to capture the highly-attractive long-term structural opportunity for the financial advice industry."

As of 0945 BST, St James's Place shares were down 1.98% at 436.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com