Wealth manager co-founded by Jacob Rothschild sees stock-market slide

By Steve Goldstein

St. James Place to take provision for customer refunds

Shares in St. James Place, the wealth manager that was partly founded by Jacob Rothschild, fell as much as 34% on Wednesday after taking a GBP426 million ($539 million) provision for potential client refunds as it cut its dividend.

St. James (UK:STJ) said it's seen a significant increase in complaints, particularly in the latter part of 2023, mostly linked to the delivery of ongoing servicing. It says a new Salesforce.com customer relationship system means the issue will be "a historic issue."

The Financial Conduct Authority has warned about wealth management fees and St. James adopted a new charging structure in October.

The firm is now going to pay dividends to represent 50% of underlying results, down from its previous 70% commitment.

"A combination of the provision we have established and an expected decrease in the level of profit growth in the next few years as we transition to our new charging structure, reduces our ability to invest for long term growth in our business over the next few years," said CEO Mark FitzPatrick in a statement. FitzPatrick became CEO in December.

The company ended the year with GBP168.2 billion in assets under management.

-Steve Goldstein

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02-28-24 0811ET

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