SJP eyes new wealth clients
WEALTH manager St James’s Place yesterday said it would broaden its investment range and style to attract new clients after posting a fall in first-half operating profits.
Chief executive David Bellamy said St James’s Place was seeking to attract a new breed of clients and was planning to offer absolute return and fixed-income funds for investors keen on capital preservation. The new funds and strategy is expected to be in place within the next 12 months.
“You are looking at a managing style, which is more about the short term, I guess, and more about taking advantage of the short term,” he said.
St James’s, which is 60 per cent owned by Lloyds Banking Group, posted an operating profit of £101m, down from £114.2m a year earlier, but ahead of a market consensus of £98.1m provided by the company.
New business for the half year, calculated by adding new regular premiums to a tenth of new single premiums, was £203m, compared with an analyst consensus of £205.7m provided by the company and £220.7m posted in the same period last year.
Net inflows grew by 25 per cent to £1bn, helping to counter the impact of weak markets in the last 12 months and bring assets under management to £16.9bn, against £17.2bn a year earlier.
The manager said it had retained over 95 per cent of existing clients’ funds. Bellamy said there was no indication of any change in the stake held by Lloyds, as the parent group seeks a deal for its larger investment management business, Insight. He said: “They are embroiled in their own business right now and we are just getting on with SJP. Nothing new.”