St James’s Place shares fall despite strong net inflows

Investing.com – St James’s Place (LSE: STJ) shares fell 1% in today’s trading session, despite reporting positive net inflows for the first quarter, raising concerns that investors remain cautious after a period of volatility.

Net inflows beat expectations
The asset management and financial services company recorded net inflows of £1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025, more than double the same period last year and 23% higher than market expectations. The positive result was mainly due to strong growth in pensions and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).

St James’s Place’s total inflows were £5.1 billion, up 29% year-on-year (YoY) and 6% above consensus forecasts. However, outflows also rose to £3.5bn – in line with expectations but still reflecting pressure from clients to withdraw funds.

Compared to peers
St James’s Place’s net flow performance was seen as similar to peers such as Quilter (LSE: QLT), AJ Bell (LSE: AJB), and IntegraFin (LSE: IHP), although the majority of the improvement came from lower outflows rather than superior inflows.

Total assets under management (FUM) were £188.6bn, up 5% YoY, in line with consensus estimates. However, FUM growth was impacted by negative market sentiment, with a -1.7% decline in the quarter.

Outlook remains positive
The company’s CEO expressed optimism about the second quarter outlook, citing strong client engagement and activity to date.

Views from experts
Analysts at RBC welcomed the positive results, saying they were evidence that STJ’s business model was recovering after a period of volatility from mid-2023 to mid-2024.

“The better-than-expected net capital flow multiple is a further indicator of STJ’s long-term resilience. In particular, the decline in capital outflows both on a quarterly and annual basis is encouraging,” RBC said in its analysis.