St James's PlaceOct 21 2021

SJP reports 'record' third quarter as assets up 25%

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SJP reports 'record' third quarter as assets up 25%

St. James's Place has seen a “record” quarter as it reported funds under management were up 25 per cent year-on-year.

In a quarterly trading update this morning (October 21), the wealth manager reported funds under management for the three months to September 30 were £148.06bn, up from £118.7bn during the same period last year.

Net inflows stood at £2.59bn, an increase from £1.44bn in Q3 2020.

Pensions was the largest contributor to the FUM closing at £71.59bn at the end of the quarter. 

This was followed by unit trusts, individual savings accounts and discretionary fund management (£41.44bn) and investment (£35.03bn).

These were all up from £55.57bn, £32.96bn and £30.18bn in the same period last year.

Andrew Croft, chief executive of SJP said: “I am delighted to report another strong quarter for St. James's Place. Increased personal savings and improving consumer confidence have provided a favorable market backdrop and this, together with the great work our advisers do in supporting clients with their long-term financial planning, has driven gross inflows of £4.32bn for the quarter, up strongly against a soft comparator in 2020.”

He added: “There remains uncertainty around the near-term economic and investment market outlook, but our business is in great shape and we now anticipate the rate of gross inflow growth for the second half to be modestly ahead of our previous guidance issued in late July. 

“As a result, we expect growth in gross inflows for the full year to be around 25 per cent. Beyond 2021, it is natural that we will see variations in the pattern of new business growth we achieve over time, but our performance this year gives us every confidence in the 2025 ambitions we set out for St. James's Place earlier this year."

This comes as the advice giant reported a “record” end to last year and a “record” first quarter of this year too

Last month, the firm also selected Columbia Threadneedle Investments to run a £1.7bn bond mandate for the business.

The mandate is to manage a new £1.7bn global investment grade credit line. It will be managed by Alasdair Ross, head of investment grade credit in EMEA, and Ryan Staszewski, a senior portfolio manager in the investment grade credit team.

Earlier this week, head of SJP academy Andy Payne explained how the firm is using virtual reality to train future advisers

sonia.rach@ft.com

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