AJ Bell profits surge 61 per cent as do-it-yourself investors shrug off volatility
Retail investment platform AJ Bell said profits had rocketed 61 per cent in the first half of the year after a bump in the number of savers and do-it-yourself investors using its platform.
The firm said this morning that revenues had jumped 37 per cent to £103.6m in the six months to the end of March while pre-tax profits had surged to £41.9m, up from £26.1m in the same period last year.
Assets under administration ticked up seven per cent to £68.6bn despite a slowdown in the flow of cash onto its platform, falling to £2bn from £3bn in the same period last year.
Chief Michael Summersgill said in a statement this morning that the numbers “demonstrate the strength of our business model” through turbulent market conditions.
“We continue to focus intently on our customer proposition and service offering, which has ensured we continue to welcome new customers to our platform and retain existing ones,” he added.
“This helped generate strong net inflows of £2bn during a period of challenging market conditions, which contributed to platform assets under administration increasing to £68.6bn.”
The amount of people using its platform rose seven per cent in the first half of the year to 455,008 despite a turbulent period on the markets.
Assets under management in the firm’s investment management division also surged 39 per cent to £3.9bn on the back of record £900m inflows.
Shareholders in the firm are now set for a payday as bosses hiked the interim dividend to 3.5 per share, up 26 per cent on the previous year.
Summersgill added that the strength of the firm’s pension offer will allow it to cash in on the removal of the pension lifetime allowance charge and increases to pension annual allowances in April.