St James's Place today reported annual IFRS pre-tax profits up by 8% to £353.8m in 2021 as business continued to grow despite pandemic lockdowns.

IFRS pre-shareholder tax, one of the firm's key measures of profit, was up from 327.6m in 2020. 

The figures suggest a significant bounceback after income and profits were hit in 2020 when the firm had to make 200 mainly admin staff redundant to cut costs. 

The wealth manager saw strong gross inflows of £18.2 billion in 2021 (2020: £14.3 billion) and said retention of client assets during the year was “exceptional.”

Net inflow of funds in 2021 was a record £11 billion (2020: £8.2 billion) and total funds under management grew to £154 billion (2020: £129.3 billion).

The company now has 4,556 qualified partner advisers - up 218 on the previous year - and said it remained positive about future prospects. Its training academy continues to provide hundreds of new recruits a year.

Partner numbers have grown strongly in recent years. At the end of 2020 the company had 4,338 advisers, up 1.9% on a year earlier.

The proposed final dividend is 40.41 pence per share (2020: 38.49 pence per share), resulting in full year dividend of 51.96 pence per share (2020: 38.49 pence per share)

SJP CEO Andrew Croft said: "Whilst 2021 was another extraordinary year, with society continuing to navigate lockdowns and disruptions caused by Covid-19, the roll-out of vaccination programmes saw many economies rebound strongly with investment markets recording positive returns.

“Supported by this more favourable external environment and the desire by individuals to save and invest for the future, I am very pleased to report that St. James's Place had an excellent year. During 2021 we achieved record gross and net flows and these, together with positive investments markets, drove funds under management to an all-time high of £154 billion.”

He said he expected the demand for face-to-face financial advice to remain “as strong as ever” in the coming year.

He added: “In fact, as we emerge from the pandemic, I believe more people will be reassessing their life plans and be more likely to seek out a trusted adviser.”