St. James Place share price rare pattern points to a 21% surge

St. James Place share price has staged a strong comeback in the past two years, marking a strong turnaround for a company that was on the brisk a few years ago. STJ jumped to a high of 1,280p, its highest point since March 2022 and 220% above its lowest point in 2024.

St. James Place business is booming

A report published on Thursday showed that St. James Place, the biggest wealth manager in the UK, is doing well as demand for its services jump.

The company’s gross funds under management (FUM) jumped to over £10.5 billion in the year’s first half, a big improvement from the £8.5 billion it made in the same period last year. This amount was about 58% of what it brought in last year.

The net inflows doubled from £1.9 billion to £3.8 billion, while its total funds under management jumping from £190 billion in January to £198.5 billion.

These numbers fueled the growth of its revenues and profits. Its profit after tax jumped to £279 million from £165.1 million, while its earnings per share soared from 29.9p to 51.6p. In a statement, Mark FitzPatrick, the CEO said:

The company has implemented major changes in the past few years as its turnaround intensified. It is introducing a new charging structure, which will have an initial advice charge based on the assets. The first £250,000 will be charged 3%, while the next £250k will cost 2%. Amounts of £500k and above will cost 1%.

After this, the company will charge on the ongoing charges, with advice costing 0.80%. Unit trusts and ISAs will cost 0.27%, while pensions and investment bonds will cost 0.35%. Funds will have an expense ratio of between 0.09% and 0.69%.

The company is also implementing cost cuts, with hopes to slash about £100 million by 2027. One approach has been to implement layoffs of about 500 employees.

The weekly chart shows that the STJ stock price has staged a strong comeback in the past few months. It has moved from a low of 373.4p in 2024 to 1,250p.

The stock has formed a golden cross pattern as the 50-week and 200-week Exponential Moving Averages (EMA) crossed each other.

Most importantly, it has formed an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, a popular bullish reversal. Therefore, the stock will likely continue rising as bulls target the 2023 high of 1,516p, up by 21% from the current level.