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St James’s Place reported a record £190.2bn in assets under management despite a drop in net inflows over the past year, as the UK’s largest wealth manager attempts to cut costs and repair its image, sending shares up 7 per cent on Thursday.
The wealth group said gross inflows from customers jumped by a fifth in 2024 to £18.4bn, while positive returns on investments helped boost total assets under management.
However, net inflows fell to £4.3bn, from £5.1bn a year earlier, partly due to less money flowing into pensions overall. The figures were better than analysts expected.
Chief executive Mark FitzPatrick said SJP was finalising its new customer charging structure, which will be implemented in the second half of the year.
The business announced in 2023 that it would change its fees, including dropping its exit charge on certain products, after coming under scrutiny from the Financial Conduct Authority.
It is also attempting to clean up its image after coming under fire for its lavish sales perks and gatherings for financial advisers. It has abandoned its ritzy annual staff meetings in London and is planning to hold a virtual meeting instead.
SJP is also reviewing its servicing records to ensure that customers received sufficient advice following a high number of complaints, which led to it setting aside £426mn last January for potential refunds.
FitzPatrick said on Thursday that the company was still working on reviewing its client service records while work on cost-cutting continues to “progress as planned”.
SJP is planning to cut more than 500 jobs as part of a broader restructuring to remove £100mn of costs by 2027. The company, which has about 3,200 staff, gave no update on the job cuts on Thursday.
FitzPatrick, who joined SJP in 2023, said last year that he was aiming to generate cumulative savings of £500mn by 2030, half of which would be reinvested in the business.
