Funds under management at St James's Place plc reached record levels for the first half of 2019.

The wealth management group – which has several partner practices based in Cumbria around the Carlisle and Kendal areas – said it had reached £109.3 billion of funds under management for the six months to June 30 in an interim statement published on the London Stock Exchange.

Retention of client funds stood at a “strong” 96 per cent, it said.

While chief executive, Andrew Croft, hailed a “solid” set of results, he said the firm had not been immune to the challenging economic and political environment.

Gross new inflow of funds was down seven per cent to £7.4bn compared to £7.9bn for the same period in 2018, and net inflow of funds down to £4.4bn from £5.2bn compared to the previous year.

New business profit stood at £386.3 million – down from £437m in 2018 – and operating profit fell from £489.6m last year to £465.7m for the first half of 2019.

Mr Croft said: “Given the uncertain macro-economic and political environment that continues to prevail in the UK, I am pleased to report a solid set of results for the first six months of 2019, once again demonstrating the resilience of the St. James's Place business.

“Whilst our new business continues to perform well compared to others in the wealth management sector, we are not immune to the challenging external factors that prevailed during the first half of the year.

“Consequently, gross new inflows for the period, at £7.4 billion, were some 7 per cent lower than the first half of 2018, and we are encouraged that gross flows improved in the second quarter versus the first quarter.”

The interim dividend of 18.49 pence per share stands at the same level for the fix six months of 2018.