St. James’s Place (LON:STJ) executives used the company’s full-year 2025 results Q&A session to highlight what Chief Executive Officer Mark FitzPatrick described as a year of “strong delivery and execution,” alongside progress on strategic initiatives ranging from a new charging structure to a multi-year historic service review and a stepped-up shareholder returns framework.
Financial performance and shareholder returns
FitzPatrick said the group delivered growth in new business, funds under management, and underlying cash result, while also generating “strong returns for our clients.” He pointed to an underlying cash result of £462 million, which he said was up 3% year-on-year and 4% ahead of consensus. Underlying cash basic EPS was 87 pence per share, up 6% year-on-year.
Looking ahead, FitzPatrick said the board updated shareholder returns guidance “a year earlier than originally anticipated.” From 2026, the company intends to increase the payout ratio to 70% of underlying cash result. He said the company expects ordinary dividends to comprise at least 40% of total shareholder returns, with buybacks making up the remainder, adding that dividends are expected to be at least 28% of underlying cash result and buybacks 42%.
Asked about the decision to weight returns toward buybacks, FitzPatrick said the board believed that “at these share prices” a stronger buyback would provide important value enhancement for shareholders, while still delivering an increase in dividends. He also described buybacks as a tool the company wanted to deploy on an “ongoing basis rather than a discrete basis.”
Charging structure, Polaris Multi-Index, and product positioning
Management reiterated that its “simple, comparable charging structure” went live smoothly in late summer and was positioned as a foundational change that put investment performance on a more comparable footing with the wider market. FitzPatrick said the new structure enabled the launch of Polaris Multi-Index, which broadened client choice and reached over £1 billion of funds under management at year-end, around two months after launch.
In response to questions about competition from model portfolio solutions, FitzPatrick argued that Polaris and Polaris Multi-Index are fund-of-funds rather than model portfolio services, and said fund-of-funds structures allow more dynamic rebalancing without crystallizing capital gains tax in the same way as rebalancing within an MPS. He said the company views that as an advantage in a rapidly changing market.
On early adoption of Polaris Multi-Index, FitzPatrick said the firm was seeing both new money from new clients and “a little bit of switching” from existing funds into the new range. He attributed some of the appeal to ongoing asset allocation and rebalancing at what he described as an attractive price point.
AI, technology tools, and advisor productivity
A recurring theme in analyst questions was artificial intelligence and whether AI-driven direct-to-consumer offerings could challenge advice-led models. FitzPatrick repeatedly emphasized that the company views technology as a way to strengthen, not replace, face-to-face advice. He said financial advice in the UK is “highly regulated” and “high-trust,” requiring personalization, suitability, accountability, and human judgment.
FitzPatrick outlined several AI-enabled or AI-adjacent tools in use or nearing rollout, describing them primarily as productivity aids:
- An “advice assistant” leveraging Salesforce data to produce suggestions on wrappers, investment amounts, fund selections, and other elements, using a rules-based engine trained on prior recommendations within the firm’s advice framework.
- Tools for preparing meetings and summarizing client conversations into notes and action items, which he said had been extensively trialed and were in the “final stages” ahead of broader rollout across the partnership during the year.
- “ChatSJP,” which he said covers documents such as the advice framework and business submission guides and helps paraplanners and admin teams check alignment, reducing time spent on queries and freeing up call center staff for more complex matters.
He also described innovation coming from within the advisor community, noting that some advisor firms have built their own technology, which the company is working to make available more broadly under appropriate security and data protections.
When asked about whether St. James’s Place’s technology stack is nimble enough to incorporate AI and large language models, FitzPatrick said the company uses “modern tech” including Salesforce and Snowflake and said recent work integrating an advisor firm’s AI tools with Salesforce increased confidence in a “plug and play” approach.
Advisor trends, client dynamics, and high net worth emphasis
On advisor headcount, FitzPatrick confirmed advisor numbers declined modestly in the second half of 2025, which he linked to an initiative previously discussed. He said the departing advisors had productivity “significantly below average,” and he indicated overall productivity was stronger during the year.
Executives also addressed questions about client growth and mix. FitzPatrick said client growth becomes “more complex” as the company pushes further into high net worth, where the focus may shift from pure client numbers toward higher funds under management per client and deeper engagement. He said that, based on a survey of advisors conducted late in the year, most advisors expect client numbers to grow, and he emphasized that the majority of new clients come through word-of-mouth referrals, contributing to high retention and “sticky relationships.”
FitzPatrick added that the firm is already bringing in younger clients, stating that over a third of new clients are under 40 and that the average age of new clients is coming down, which he linked to the relatively younger average age of the firm’s advisors.
On the high net worth initiative specifically, FitzPatrick said the company recruited new talent and is working to streamline and improve service for advisors and clients. He said about 10% of funds under management were in the high net worth segment at year-end, a slight increase from the prior year, and indicated the firm plans to “lean into it” further in the second half of the year.
Service review, complaints, liquidity, and other updates
FitzPatrick said the historic ongoing service evidence review remains in the operational delivery phase and is on track to complete in 2026. He said the company released an additional £25 million from the provision, bringing total releases to £109.5 million for the year. On the scope of the review, he reiterated that the firm limited the lookback period to 2018 in part due to statute-of-limitations considerations, and he said he expects the work to be substantially done by the end of 2026, while acknowledging that some complaints could still be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
On complaints more broadly, FitzPatrick said business-as-usual complaint levels are down, while some residual activity relates to the historic review and claims management companies. He also described “noise” from complaints that are not legitimate or even from non-clients, adding that management was comfortable complaints were normalizing.
Liquidity and capital also drew investor questions following new disclosures. FitzPatrick said liquidity levels would be reviewed regularly and that any “inappropriate buildup” could be addressed through the capital allocation framework. Finance Director Charles Wood encouraged investors to focus on liquidity rather than solvency capital metrics, noting that the management solvency buffer concept still exists (now referred to as the management capital coverage assessment) and forms part of the bridge from total liquidity to free liquidity in the company’s disclosures.
On pensions and inheritance tax changes expected in 2027, FitzPatrick said advice is shifting, with some older clients using pensions more for drawdown rather than treating them purely as a wealth-transfer vehicle. He said investment bonds were becoming more attractive and suggested pension drawdowns could increase somewhat for older clients, while noting the situation remains fluid.
Finally, FitzPatrick provided an update on cash held via Flagstone, saying balances rose to £5.7 billion, which he noted is not included in the firm’s funds under management figure. He said the company is working with Flagstone and exploring other opportunities to streamline the movement from savings into investment, describing the current process as “clunky” and aiming to make transfers easier.
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.
