St James Place delivers 'strong' quarter as net inflows soar

FTSE 250-listed wealth management company St James's Place has delivered another strong period of growth during the first three months of the year.

The group reported a 39% increase in net inflows during the period, and said funds under management (FuM) increased by £4.2bn to £39bn, up 12% in the year-to-date and 26% over the past 12 months.

Total new investments came to £1.6bn, compared to £1.3bn in the same period in 2012.

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David Bellamy, Chief Executive, said: "I am very pleased to be reporting another quarter of strong growth in new investments, which combined with positive equity markets, and specifically the performance of our client funds [...].

"Net inflows for the first three months of the year are up 36% reflecting the consistency of our year on year retention record and the strong new business growth.

"These excellent results were driven by a number of factors including improved investor sentiment, the sustained low interest rate environment, the breadth and quality of our investment proposition, high levels of client satisfaction and the growth in adviser numbers.

"Whilst we face more challenging comparatives later in the year, the above factors together with the continued strong growth in the Partnership and the good momentum we have across all aspects of our business gives us confidence in our ability to deliver future growth."

The group also commented that it has seen a continuation of the improvement in retail investor sentiment that was experienced in the fourth quarter of 2012, and as such was able to continue to attract a strong level of new investments, experiencing as a result strong growth in funds under management.

Total new single investments for the quarter were £1.60bn (2012: 1.26bn), with particularly strong growth in investments, which were up 30% to £531m together with unit trust sales up 51% to £489m.

The share price rose 1.04% to 532.50p by 08:25 Thursday.

NR