{"id":97093,"date":"2026-07-04T02:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97093\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T02:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T02:33:19","slug":"ubs-lifts-st-jamess-place-target-as-market-gains-offset-ai-disruption-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97093\/","title":{"rendered":"UBS lifts St James’s Place target as market gains offset AI disruption fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UBS<\/a> UBS lifts St James’s Place target as market gains offset AI disruption fears Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n

UBS has nudged up its price target on St James’s Place PLC (LSE:STJ)<\/a>, the FTSE 100 wealth manager, to 1,530p from 1,520p, pointing to around 20% upside from the current level of 1,277p. <\/p>\n

The bank kept its buy rating, arguing that strong equity market gains during the second quarter should more than offset a softer outlook for new client money. <\/p>\n

Analyst Nasib Ahmed said market returns of around 10% over the period would lift funds under management to an estimated \u00a3241.5 billion, some 9% ahead of consensus. <\/p>\n

That higher forecast drives positive earnings revisions, with UBS raising its per-share earnings estimates by 11% in the near term. <\/p>\n

The upgrade comes despite a more cautious take on fund flows. <\/p>\n

UBS now builds a harsher artificial intelligence disruption scenario into its base case, assuming gross inflows stop growing from 2027, rather than 2030 as it previously modelled. <\/p>\n

The concern is that AI-driven advice tools could compete with the face-to-face model at the heart of the St James’s Place business. <\/p>\n

The bank expects gross inflows of \u00a35.45 billion and net inflows of \u00a31.45 billion for the quarter, running 7% and 17% below consensus, respectively. <\/p>\n

Net flows are forecast to keep shrinking, turning negative by 2030. <\/p>\n

Even so, market performance of around 5% a year is expected to remain the main engine of asset growth over the medium term. <\/p>\n

St James’s Place trades on about 11 times UBS forecast 2027 cash earnings, below rivals Quilter and AJ Bell, which sit in a range of 14 to 18 times. <\/p>\n

Ahmed flagged several debates likely to surface at half-year results on 29 July. <\/p>\n

These include slower fund flow growth, a shift towards lower-margin products such as unit trusts and ISAs, and regulatory pressure from proposals for lighter-touch targeted support. <\/p>\n

The bank does not expect a further provision release at the half-year stage, pencilling in a share buyback of \u00a345 million. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UBS lifts St James’s Place target as market gains offset AI disruption fears Proactive uses images sourced from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[129],"tags":[26058,48290,48291,5255,223],"class_list":["post-97093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ubs","tag-equity-market","tag-market-gains","tag-st-james","tag-target","tag-ubs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116859371864065210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}