St. James's Place (LON:STJ) management used its 2025 full-year results presentation to highlight stronger client flows, rising funds under management, and progress on several major transformation programs, including the rollout of a new charging structure and work to address historic ongoing service evidence issues.
Flows and funds under management rose sharply
Management said 2025 provided a “more stable backdrop” for U.K. consumers than the prior period, pointing to generally lower mortgage rates and equity markets reaching new all-time highs, while also noting continued pressure on household budgets, weak economic growth, and uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget. The company said changes announced by the government had made the retirement savings landscape “significantly more complicated,” which contributed to demand for professional advice.
Overall, St. James’s Place reported net inflows of £6.2 billion for the year, up 42% from 2024. Management also cited strong investment performance, stating that performance across funds and portfolios represented an investment return of 12% of opening FUM, net of all charges. As a result, funds under management rose to £220 billion, up £30 billion year-on-year.
Underlying cash result increased; charging changes shift profit mix
The company reported an underlying post-tax cash result of £462 million, an increase of 3% from 2024. Management attributed the performance to three main factors:
- Higher average FUM: Average FUM increased 12% year-on-year, helping lift net income from FUM to £725 million, up 6% year-on-year. Management said the result reflected a step-down in margin under the new charging structure implemented in late August, and reiterated expectations that net income from FUM will be within 43–45 basis points going forward, with 2026 expected at the lower end of that range.
- Margin from new business: Margin arising from new business was £100 million in 2025, driven by business written under the prior charging structure. Management said initial product charges have been removed under the new structure and expects margin arising from new business to be approximately zero for 2026 and beyond.
- Cost management: Controllable expenses increased 5% to £306 million, which management said was in line with guidance, and the guidance “continues to apply for 2026.”
Management also provided an update on “gestation FUM,” saying the business ended 2025 with £53 billion of gestation FUM. Once fully mature by 2032, management said it “could contribute in the region of £300 million of additional income to the cash result every year,” without additional costs.
Implementation of the new charging structure carried costs in 2025 of £53 million, bringing total post-tax spend on implementation to £119 million, which management said was toward the upper end of its previously guided £105 million–£120 million range. The company said there will be no further charge structure implementation cost in 2026.
Separately, management noted that releases from the ongoing service evidence provision are not included in the underlying cash result. For 2025, these releases totaled £82 million post-tax, taking the company’s stated cash result for the year to £544 million.
Operational execution: charging structure, redress work, efficiency actions
Executives described 2025 as a year of “delivery and execution” across major initiatives previously outlined.
First, St. James’s Place highlighted the “successful implementation” of a simpler, comparable, and unbundled charging structure in late summer. Management said the change was the largest change program in the company’s history and allows clearer separation of charges for financial advice, long-term investment products, and investment management. The company also said it can now present investment performance on an equivalent basis to peers, because advice and product charges are no longer deducted from investment performance.
Second, the company discussed work to address “historic client service evidencing gaps” following new FCA guidance around ongoing advice services. Management said it is now “deep into the operational delivery phase” and, based on experience gathered in the second half, it released an additional £25 million from the provision on a pre-tax basis (£19 million post-tax). The board decided to return this release to shareholders via a share buyback, consistent with its approach to a previously announced £63 million post-tax release at the half year (with that associated buyback concluding in October). Management said it expects the work to continue through 2026 as originally planned.
Third, the company addressed its cost and efficiency program. It said it completed a transition to a new organizational design, resulting in a 14% year-on-year reduction in group headcount. It also reported steps to optimize supplier relationships and rationalize its property footprint, securing a 15% reduction in property square footage. Management said the program remains on track to be delivered by 2027 and that savings achieved in 2025 were reinvested in the business, contributing to no material impact on 2025 results and, for the same reason, no expected material impact on 2026 results.
Polaris Multi-Index launch and broader proposition
Following the charging structure changes, St. James’s Place launched its Polaris Multi-Index range in October. Management described the range as low-cost, multi-asset “fund of funds” that implements active asset allocation expertise through index-tracking funds and complements the existing product set across risk profiles.
The company said the range was received well by clients and advisors and grew to over £1 billion of AUM by year-end, roughly two months after launch.
Liquidity, dividends and buybacks; higher payout target from 2026
Management introduced updated liquidity disclosures intended to better reflect the firm’s capacity for shareholder returns. It reported approximately £2.7 billion of liquid assets on the shareholder balance sheet at year-end, predominantly in AAA-rated money market funds. After deductions for items needed to run the business—including working capital, policyholder tax, and its management capital coverage assessment—the company reported £271 million of “free liquidity held at Group Centre.”
On shareholder returns, St. James’s Place reiterated that it will return 50% of the full-year underlying cash result for 2025, structured as 18 pence per share in annual dividends with the balance via share buybacks. Management said ordinary shareholder returns total £231 million for 2025 (subject to shareholder approval of the final dividend at the AGM).
In addition, the company said it would buy back £90 million of shares to return the post-tax release from the ongoing service evidence provision, bringing the buyback program “commencing shortly” to £123 million. Including £63 million of shares bought back during the year related to the earlier provision release, management said total shareholder returns for 2025 would be £313 million.
Looking ahead, the board updated guidance a year earlier than originally planned and now intends to return 70% of the underlying cash result to shareholders from 2026 onward. Management said it expects the ordinary dividend to represent at least 40% of total shareholder returns (at least 28% of the underlying cash result), with the remainder through buybacks. The board also intends to pay an interim dividend and conduct an interim buyback following the half-year 2026 results, with an anticipated interim dividend of 6 pence per share.
Management closed by emphasizing the market opportunity for advice in the U.K., citing internal analysis estimating £5.6 trillion of addressable wealth and pointing to an “advice gap,” with only 9% of U.K. adults receiving regulated financial advice. The company said its 2026 focus remains on completing transformation programs, embedding a more performance-focused culture, simplifying and automating processes, and investing in technology tools designed to reduce administrative burden for advisors while supporting growth.
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.
