Top 100: “Growth” across the board as Gloucestershire's biggest business reports “significant progress”
Chief executive Mark Fitzpatrick described growth across the board as St James’s Place unveiled “strong returns” for the Cotswold firm’s growing number of clients.
* The Reports & Deals section of Raikes, sponsored by Randall & Payne, is also home to its star attraction, the perpetual Top 100-plus Businesses in Gloucestershire list, which tracks the financial fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover.
Profit after tax at what is Gloucestershire’s biggest firm by ‘turnover’, St James’s Place, grew by 33 per cent to £531.4 million last year as the wealth manager saw funds under its control rise 15.8 per cent to £220 billion.
Shareholders saw basic earnings per share increase to 87 pence, up six per cent on the previous year, with the firm declaring that “another strong financial outcome” enabled it to update its shareholder returns a year earlier than originally planned.
The Cotswold-headquartered business first announced the share buyback scheme in 2024, saying it was aimed at reducing the issued share capital of the company.
Chief executive Mark Fitzpatrick declared himself pleased with the figures, which were released this morning, and the progress of the business.
“We delivered growth in new business, growth in funds under management, and growth in the underlying cash result, while at the same time delivering strong returns for our growing number of clients,” said Fitzpatrick.
“We have also executed against our key priorities as we position for the future. This included successfully implementing our new simple, comparable charging structure, progressing our historic ongoing service evidence review, and advancing our cost and efficiency programme.”
Back in 2023 St James’s Place (SJP) faced intensifying, widespread criticism regarding its fee structures and service quality, which led to it announcing a major restructuring in October 2023.
“We look to the future with confidence. While the external consumer outlook remains uncertain, the changes we have already made to our business, combined with our focus to strengthen and grow SJP over the long-term, mean we are well positioned to capture the structural market opportunity ahead and deliver for all our stakeholders in 2026 and beyond,” said Fitzpatrick.
St James’s Place is part of the stable of firm’s followed by The Raikes Journal as part of its Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, which tracks the fortunes of the county’s biggest businesses by turnover.
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