St James’s Place has delivered a strong month for net inflows and assets under management in April despite the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.
Net inflows for the month were up slightly to £810m compared to £800m in April 2019 bringing assets under management to £108.83bn, according to the “new business update” regulatory filing published on Wednesday morning.
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SJP chief executive Andrew Croft (pictured) said net inflows have remained “robust” during May.
Croft said: “Following record first quarter new business, we have naturally seen a reduction in new investments as the Covid-19 crisis developed.
“In light of the need to observe social distancing, the partnership has quickly adapted to managing client relationships ‘virtually’ and April gross inflows were robust, albeit 13% lower than the same month last year.
“Retention of client investments was particularly strong during the month and as a result, April net inflows were 1% higher than a year ago. Funds under management benefitted from both positive net inflows and a positive investment return, to end the month at £108.8bn.”
The wealth manager said it would release its update for this month in late June.
Its results for Q1 2020 were published at the end of April when it revealed the fallout from the Covid crisis which has dragged its assets down 13% in the first three months of the year. It also said it would withhold 11.22p per share worth of shareholder payouts, about one third of its proposed final dividend, until the “financial and economic impacts of Covid-19 become clearer”.
Earlier this month SJP revealed it is developing a range of low-carbon passive solutions.
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