Over the past three years, the St James’s Place (LSE:STJ) share price has halved in value. In fact in Q2, it hit the lowest level in over a decade. Yet the FTSE 250 firm’s managed to rally 32% in just the past three months, with some indications that the worst is in the rear view mirror. Here’s why it could be a smart purchase for me right now.
Taking action
One catalyst that’s helped the stock to rally was the half-year results released at the end of July. It was the first real opportunity for the management team to express how they were planning on turning the business around.
In the report, it spoke of “an addressable cost base reduction programme”. This is anticipated to give cumulative net savings of around £500m through to 2030. The results also spoke about taking a chunk of these savings to invest for “strategic initiatives and underpinning long-term growth ambitions.”
These comments clearly helped to give investors more optimism about the future. Part of the issue for some firms is that the management team doesn’t accept there’s a problem. Therefore, things never change. Yet the fact that action’s being taken shows that the falling share price can be addressed.
Loyal client base
Another factor that makes me want to buy the stock is the type of clients the firm has. Despite all the problems over the past few years, the funds under management hit a new record at £181.9bn in H1 2024. This is up from the £168.2bn from the end of December 2023.
The more money from clients the company looks after, the more profitable it can become. Sure, the client advisers have to sell financial products in order to turn that money into revenue. But I’m impressed at how the company’s retained a lot of clients through a difficult period. Not only this, but it’s actually increased the funds being managed.
This shows me that clients do like the offer. Otherwise they would quickly move money elsewhere.
Caution needed
Despite these positive points, I do need to be mindful of the issues that got the company in a pickle in the first place. One of the major ones was the £426m compensation pot set up earlier this year for historical overcharging of client fees.
The fact that the systems and policies didn’t pick up on the correct fees that should have been charged is worrying. Of course, the firm’s addressing this issue. But it’s embarrassing that something like this was happening internally without it being picked up for a long time.
I’m seriously thinking about buying the stock for long-term gains and feel it represents one of the best potential growth options right now.
