St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) said it delivered positive net inflows, record funds under management and continued progress on its strategic initiatives during the first half of 2026, while executives outlined plans to increase adviser recruitment and productivity from 2027.
Chief Executive Mark FitzPatrick said the wealth manager generated net inflows of £2.7 billion during the period and grew funds under management to a record £240.8 billion. He said the company continued to see strong engagement between clients and advisers, reflecting demand for financial advice in an under-penetrated U.K. market.
Adviser retention and recruitment
Adviser retention was 90% in the first half, compared with 91% in 2025, FitzPatrick said. He described the difference as marginal, representing roughly 50 advisers, and said adviser additions came from a combination of experienced lateral hires and graduates from the St. James’s Place Academy.
The company has strengthened its recruitment team and increased investment in the Academy as it prepares for adviser headcount growth beginning in 2027. FitzPatrick said adviser numbers are expected to remain broadly flat this year before moving into low-single-digit growth over the medium term.
“We are very focused on retention, we are very focused on acquisition, and we’re very focused on creating a long-term pipeline for the profession through the Academy,” FitzPatrick said.
He said the Academy had made a significant contribution to adviser numbers in the first half and that the company has seen increased interest from women considering careers in financial advice. St. James’s Place said nearly half of new advisers entering the profession come through its Academy.
Addressing questions about remuneration, FitzPatrick said advisers retain about 80% of the advice fees paid to partners, a level he said was higher than some market participants may assume. Chief Financial Officer Caroline Waddington said that figure includes initial and ongoing advice fees as well as allowances provided to advisers.
Under the new charging structure, the company pays advisers 55 basis points out of an 80-basis-point ongoing advice fee, Waddington said. Advisers under the previous structure received all ongoing advice fees, and that legacy business mix means the 80% figure is expected to decline somewhat over time, though not to 75%, she said.
Flows, productivity and profit outlook
Waddington said gross inflows totaled £10.5 billion in the first half, matching the company’s record result in the first half of 2025 despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. Adviser case volumes increased 9% from a year earlier, although average case sizes declined by approximately the same percentage.
Outflows increased in absolute terms alongside higher funds under management, but rose less quickly than the company’s asset base, according to Waddington. Average funds under management were 18% higher than in the first half of 2025, while outflows rose 16%.
- Client retention was 95.4%, compared with 95.3% a year earlier.
- Total outflows declined to 6.7% of average funds under management from 6.9%.
- Net flows remain within the company’s expected range of 2% to 3% of opening funds under management.
Waddington said the 2%-to-3% range was “definitely not a cap,” while FitzPatrick said he expects net flows to move above 3% over the medium term as the company enters its planned “Amplify” growth phase next year. He cautioned that economic conditions and consumer confidence would remain important factors.
On earnings, Waddington said that if market conditions are relatively normal in the second half, St. James’s Place would expect second-half 2026 profits to exceed those achieved in the second half of 2025. She reiterated that market performance remains a key variable.
The company maintained its ambition to double adjusted profits between 2023 and 2030. Waddington described the target as an ambition rather than formal guidance, based on assumptions of mid- to high-single-digit annual growth in funds under management under normal market conditions.
Technology, high-net-worth clients and cash platform
FitzPatrick said St. James’s Place is investing more than £260 million over the next several years, with much of the spending directed toward the adviser and client proposition. The company is using technology and artificial intelligence tools to reduce administrative work and give advisers more time with clients.
He said pilots using new technology had produced increased new-client acquisition, while some smaller practices using AI tools had experienced “a significant uptick” in client numbers and productivity. The company intends to use its scale to negotiate lower technology costs for itself and its adviser network, he added.
St. James’s Place is also expanding its high-net-worth initiative through private-client events, central adviser support and a training pilot with one of its larger practices. FitzPatrick said the company expects to broaden the training program next year.
On its relationship with cash savings platform Flagstone, FitzPatrick said St. James’s Place expects to materially reduce the time required to transfer money from Flagstone into its own platform during the second half. Assets held through Flagstone had risen to £5.9 billion, he said, as clients maintained interest in holding cash amid economic uncertainty.
Client retention and investment products
FitzPatrick declined to comment on reports concerning any individual partner practice. However, he said that when an adviser leaves, clients do not necessarily leave with that adviser. St. James’s Place generally retains approximately 50% of client funds under management in such circumstances, he said. When a practice with multiple advisers exits, the company also tends to retain at least half of its advisers.
Waddington said the company’s Business Succession Planning program can support larger practices through management buy-ins, management buyouts and employee ownership trusts. During the first half, the company completed its largest-ever succession transaction, involving the sale of one of its 10 largest businesses to another practice, she said.
FitzPatrick also said the company’s Polaris Multi-Index offering, launched in October 2025, had reached £4.6 billion in assets. He said client response had been strongly positive and that the product’s margin profile should not create a drag on overall margins because it includes an active asset-allocation layer.
About St. James’s Place (LON:STJ)
We plan, grow and protect the financial futures of over one million clients across the UK by providing holistic advice-led wealth management, delivered exclusively by the Partnership, our group of more than 4,900 highly skilled advisers.
We offer an integrated client proposition, through which we provide financial advice, investment product wrappers such as pensions, investment bonds and ISAs, and offer our own range of investment funds and portfolios.
