Wealth manager St James’s Place sees modest growth in net inflows

St James’s Place, the UK’s largest asset management firm, saw net inflows slow in the first three months of the year as investor redemptions surged.

Net inflows during the first quarter of 2023 fell to £2 billion, compared to analyst expectations of £2.2 billion and a record £2.91 billion in the same period last year.

Brokers noted significant signs of a normalization of client repayments towards pre-Covid trends as volumes have been lower over the past two years.

St James’s Place Shares was down 3.95 percent to 1,190.5 pence on late Thursday afternoon after the update, though they’ve still grown about 12 percent since the start of the year.

Investor confidence was dented in March following the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the largest US bank failures since the global financial crisis.

This sparked fears of another global banking collapse before intervention from central banks and other financial institutions helped prevent further turmoil.

SJP’s level of assets under management was still up 3.5 per cent to £153.6 billion at the end of March, mainly due to a net return on investment of £3.25 billion.

Chief executive Andrew Croft said: “We started 2023 as we expected, so if macroeconomic indicators and consumer confidence show further signs of recovery, we continue to anticipate a more favorable environment for new businesses as 2023 unfolds.”

David McCann, an analyst with broker Numis, said: “SJP remains the stock we have the strongest positive belief in the industry.

“At the core of this vision is the strong and consistent net organic growth… which has been achieved in various market conditions in the past and which we expect to continue.”

Fellow asset manager Schroders revealed on Thursday that assets under management fell by £8.8bn to £737.5bn between December and March.

It also announced that chief financial officer Richard Keers would step down later this year after ten years in his position.

Schroders CEO Peter Harrison said Keers, 60, had led a “period of robust growth and strong momentum across the company.”

He will be replaced by Richard Oldfield, the current Vice President and global market leader at accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, where Keers was a partner for 16 years before moving to Schroders.

In addition to his current role, Oldfield was also responsible for PwC’s client and markets department, strategy and communications, and the banking and capital markets insurance practice in the UK.

Schröders shares were 1.2 percent lower at 475.6 p late Thursday afternoon.