London, May 1, 2026, 19:04 BST
St. James’s Place Plc shares ended lower in London on Friday, capping a choppy 48 hours after the wealth manager reported £1.53 billion of first-quarter net inflows but a drop in funds under management to £216.94 billion. The stock was quoted at 1,209.5 pence, down 0.74%, after falling sharply on Wednesday and rebounding on Thursday.
The move matters because SJP is trying to prove that its reset is working. Investors have been watching whether clients stick with the firm after changes to its fee structure and after a broader overhaul launched under Chief Executive Mark FitzPatrick.
Funds under management, or FUM — the pool of client money SJP oversees — fell from £220.01 billion at the start of the quarter as negative investment returns took £4.60 billion off the total. Net inflows, meaning new client money after withdrawals, slipped from £1.69 billion a year earlier, even as gross inflows rose to £5.23 billion from £5.14 billion.
FitzPatrick called it “a good first quarter” and pointed to a 95.3% annualised retention rate. He said market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty had weighed on FUM, while adding that periods like this “underscore the enduring value of high-quality financial advice.” St. James’s Place
The weak spot was pensions. SJP’s pension net inflows fell to £1.01 billion from £1.26 billion a year earlier, while its unit trust, ISA and discretionary fund management arm rose to £0.52 billion from £0.30 billion. Investment bond net flows were flat, compared with £0.13 billion a year earlier.
Some analysts saw the initial selloff as overdone. Jefferies analyst Julian Roberts said the market response appeared excessive, noting that net flows beat expectations and gross inflows reached a record for the group’s first quarter. A 7% fall in the shares “cannot be explained” by a 1% FUM miss, he said, asking: “Are people misreading the evidence?” Proactiveinvestors UK
Panmure Liberum analyst Abid Hussain also focused on retention, saying there were “no signs of outflow accelerations” despite the fee changes. He called it encouraging that retention held up in what he described as the first clean quarter under the new structure. Investors’ Chronicle
The wider UK wealth-management backdrop is mixed. Quilter, a listed peer, reported record first-quarter inflows of £3.1 billion in April, while Reuters reported that Liontrust Asset Management posted net outflows of £836 million in the same period. That split has put more weight on adviser-led firms’ ability to keep clients engaged when markets move quickly.
The risk is plain enough: if market falls continue, strong retention may not stop FUM from shrinking, and weaker pension flows would raise questions about SJP’s biggest business line. The firm is also still being judged against its service-evidence review, fee changes and cost-cutting programme after earlier regulatory scrutiny over charges.
Shareholder returns remain part of the story. SJP’s annual meeting on Thursday approved a final dividend of 12.00 pence per share, and a Friday filing showed the company bought 249,168 shares on April 30 for cancellation at an average price of 1,204.0052 pence.
The backdrop is stronger than it was a year ago. SJP reported 2025 gross inflows of £21.9 billion, net inflows of £6.2 billion and year-end FUM of £220.0 billion, while IFRS profit after tax rose to £531.4 million.
For now, SJP has a defensible but not easy message: clients kept adding money, retention improved, and advisers stayed central to the pitch. The market, though, is asking whether that is enough when pension flows soften and investment returns turn against the balance sheet.
