St James’s Place, the Cirencester-headquartered wealth management firm, has reported a significant inflow of funds in the first half of the year, surpassing analyst predictions. The company revealed that net inflows totalled £1.9bn in the six months leading up to June’s end, a decrease from £3.4bn the previous year but far exceeding estimates of around £1.4bn from analysts such as Peel Hunt.
The decline in new cash was primarily due to an increase in outflows, suggesting that customers were capitalising on St James’s Place’s recent decision to drop its controversial exit fee policy. The market responded favourably to the results, with SJP’s share price rising 24 per cent after the market opened, before settling at a 17 per cent increase.
SJP also announced a £100m cost-cutting programme over the next two years in today’s results, with cumulative cuts of approximately £500m expected by 2030. The group’s underlying cash result also exceeded expectations, falling only one per cent from last year to £205.2m, compared to the consensus estimate of around £185m.
Mark Fitzpatrick, SJP’s new chief executive, said the last six months had seen the business “make progress against our significant programmes of work to simplify our charging structure and review historic client servicing records”.
“We are on track to deliver our new charging structure in the second half of 2025, in line with previous guidance,” he added.
The firm also reported a record-breaking assets under management figure of £181.9bn, which was just a small margin shy of analyst projections for their end of 2024 positioning at £185.8bn, as reported by City AM.
St James’s Place saw its share price descend into a nosedive, hitting a ten-year nadir in April and tumbling out of the FTSE 100.
The decline in stock value was precipitated by news that the wealth management company would be reducing its dividend and earmarking £426m to address customer complaints.
Despite these adversities, St James’s Place has seen a partial rebound, with its share prices climbing by 40 per cent in recent months; however, they still register a 15 per cent decrease since the outset of 2024.