St James’s Place shares bounce as bosses mount defence of paypackets

Shares in St James’s Place have bounced today after the firm mounted a defence of its bosses’ paypackets, following a revolt at its annual meeting in May.

Some 22 per cent of shareholders in Britain’s biggest wealth manager had rebuffed a remuneration package for bosses due to the vesting of a ‘performance share plan’ (PSP), which they claim should have been slashed to a slide in the value of the firm at the time of the grant in 2020.

However, the firm today rejected the claims and said the firm had already reined in pay at the time and cut bonuses across the business to zero.

“Applying a reduction to the vesting outcome in addition to the restraint already referred to above, risked damaging the credibility of the PSP also bearing in mind that no reciprocal upward adjustment could have been made in a previous year when the share price had ‘spiked’ at the time of grant resulting in a reduced number of shares being awarded,” the firm said in a statement.

“The committee’s view is that it acted in the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders in not applying a downward adjustment to the performance-based vesting outcome.”

The update sent shares in the FTSE 100 wealth manager rising nearly four per cent in early trading.

St James’s Place has weathered a tricky few months as investors sour on money managers and pull cash from firms across the market.

Shares in the firm have plunged over 38 per cent in the year so far as the firm faced a series of bruising headlines and was forced to overhaul its fee structure after pressure from the regulator.

Last month, the firm confirmed it would overhaul its fees and scrap a controversial exit fee in a move which sent shares tumbling. 

Bosses also came under fire earlier in the year for topping a list of poor-performing money managers with the most so-called ‘dog funds’.

Money managers and DIY investment firms have seen their market capitalisations crater across the board over the past 10 months as Brits tighten their purse strings and the flow of cash onto platforms slows.

However, there are signs that some of the pressures may be subsiding. Retail flows in the UK began to tick up over the summer with net retail sales topping £1bn and £354m in August, according to data from the Investment Association.