St James’ Place boosts inflows by £4.69bn in latest quarter
Wealth manager St James’ Place has beaten expectations, ending the year with a record £154bn of assets under management.
In a trading update published today for the three months to 31 December, St James’s Place revealed inflows grew by £4.69bn during the period with total funds under management surging by a fifth from £129bn to a recrod £154bn year on year.
St James’s place maintained a customer retention rate of 96 per cent over the full year while the number of qualified advisers at the close of Q4 was up 218 year on year at 4,556.
Commenting on the results chief executive Andrew Croft said: “I am pleased to report a very strong final quarter, rounding out a record year of new business for St. James’s Place.
“We saw a favourable market backdrop continue into the fourth quarter and this, together with the hard work of our advisers, has enabled us to attract £4.69bn of new client investments. This takes total gross inflows for the year to £18.20bn, 27 per cent higher than in 2020 and exceeding our previous guidance.”
The results come on the same day that Ian Gascoigne, the managing director of the partnership and an executive at the firm for more than 30 years, informed the Board of his decision to retire in March.
“Since joining what was a start-up company in 1991, I am delighted to have played a small part in helping to build St. James’s Place into the established FTSE 100 company it is today,” said outgoing managing director Gascoigne.
“I am pleased to say the Group is in excellent shape to take advantage of the opportunities ahead and I look forward to continuing the association in an advisory capacity,” he added.
Croft thanked Cascoigne for an “exceptional contribution” during his three decades at the firm.
Read more: St James’ Place reports increase in net inflows despite pandemic