St James's Place sees strong rise in investor inflows

* Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) inflows 1.63 bln stg, up 17 pct from Q3

* Number of advisers up 9.8 pct

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wealth manager St James's Place on Thursday posted forecast-beating fourth-quarter net inflows, as more British investors seek advice on where best to put their money.

Buoyed by finance minister George Osborne's overhaul of savings tax rules last year, more money is being directed to the firm, which helps individuals with a range of financial planning needs, including picking funds to help them save for retirement.

A 17 percent increase in net new money into its various products to 1.63 billion pounds ($2.3 billion) matched the pace of inflows in the prior quarter and took full-year inflows to 5.78 billion pounds, a rise of 14 percent.

That helped take funds under management for the full-year to 58.6 billion pounds, up 13 percent from the prior year's 52 billion, and came despite a fall in the FTSE 100 share market index in 2015 of around 5 percent.

"Despite the continued volatility across global stock markets, our business continues to perform strongly," Chief Executive David Bellamy said in a statement.

Business was also boosted by a 9.8 percent increase in the total number of its partners and other advisers to 3,113 as it continues to expand abroad in Asia.

"This increase in our capacity to attract new clients and to build upon existing relationships, bodes well for our future growth," Bellamy said.

Flagging the stock as a "buy", Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan said inflows, total funds under management and the increase in number of Partners (LSE: 0QOQ.L - news) were all well ahead of his expectations and at the top end of market consensus.

"The discrete Q4 2015 figures in particular highlight the resilience of the performance in the face of market volatility, with (around) 20 percent growth in gross inflows," he wrote in a note to clients.

"With an ever-changing landscape for pensions and savings these figures demonstrate the virtue and strength of SJP's face-to-face advice offering," he said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in St James's Place rose an initial 1.8 percent to 895.5 pence a share before falling back to 887 pence by 0916 GMT, when the FTSE 100 was up 0.2 pct. ($1 = 0.7064 pounds) (Editing by Greg Mahlich)