(Reuters) -St James’s Place on Thursday forecast weaker flows for the fourth quarter, citing an uncertain consumer environment and soft economic growth, sticky inflation and concerns around the looming autumn budget.
The company’s shares fell 4% to 1,299 pence in early trade, making it the worst performer on the FTSE 100.
The British fund manager and its peers gained ground in recent months as investors shifted toward the London market, spooked by volatile U.S. trade policies.
With uncertainties surrounding the upcoming UK budget, due in November, the financial health of wealth managers might mirror last year if clients start pulling out cash again.
Jefferies analysts expect consensus to increase marginally on better flows and investment performance, but said the budget will likely introduce caution to share price moves.
The warning comes even as the fund manager nearly doubled its net inflows in the third quarter and pushed managed assets past the 200-billion-pound ($268.42 billion) mark for the first time. The performance was supported by growing investor preference for UK assets and strong client activity after the fund manager’s revised simple fee structure.
The Gloucestershire-based company posted net inflows of 1.76 billion pounds, up from 890 million pounds last year.
($1 = 0.7451 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
