St James's Place profits rise but warns of moderate fund flows

Wealth manager St James’s Place (SJP) on Wednesday said full year operating profits rose 9% to £1bn but warned of moderate growth in fund flows due to global economic uncertainty.

Gross inflows increased to £15.7bn from £14.6bn while net inflow of funds under management increased to £10.3bn from £9.5bn.

Funds under management were £95.6bn compared with £90.7bn in 2017. The company declared a final dividend of 29.73p a share, total of 48.22p a share, a rise of 12.5%.

SJP described the year as “challenging” with a sharp correction in the final quarter resulting in annual investment returns being negative across almost all asset classes.

It cited Brexit concerns, US-China trade tensions; slowing growth in China, the possible end of the Trump tax-cuts stimulus to corporate earnings and worries over tighter US monetary policy as reasons for the sell-off.

Chief executive Andrew Croft said “challenging external factors … are not in our control and the pace of fund flows has moderated compared with last year”.

“I would note though that the inflows for the same period last year represent a very strong comparative and March typically accounts for around 50% of the first quarter's flows."