St James's Place new business hits forecasts

LONDON (Reuters) - Wealth manager St James's Place (SJP.L) reported new sales rose 1 percent in the first quarter, broadly in line with forecasts, and its chairman told Reuters it has not spoken to 60-percent shareholder HBOS HBOS.L about selling or reducing its stake.

The company based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, posted new business of 98.7 million pounds for the three months to March 31.

The consensus estimate was for around a 3 percent fall in first-quarter sales, broker Panmure Gordon said, though the broker itself had expected 2.9 percent growth, putting it around the top end of forecasts.

"We are confident that we will increase our market share in the current year and our new business target remains 15-20 percent over the longer term," said Chairman Mike Wilson, reiterating the company's previous long-term target.

Market conditions are challenging and funds under management fell 5 percent to 17.2 billion pounds since the start of the year as the value of assets slid, rather than as a result of investors withdrawing money, Wilson said.

New total single investments were 759 million pounds in the first quarter, almost identical to this time last year.

St James's sells life insurance, pensions and investments to more than 400,000 clients.

Bank and major shareholder HBOS, which announced a 4 billion pounds rights issue on Tuesday, had also been considering asset sales to raise cash, according to press reports.

Shares in St James's Place have dropped around 45 percent from their February 2007 peak, hit by concerns over its outlook in tough equity markets and over investment bond sales.