Manchester firm fires starting gun on £500m Stock Market flotation
Manchester based investment firm AJ Bell has has fired the starting gun on its £500m flotation on the Stock Market.
The announcement came on the day that the company announced profits of £28.4m for the last 12 months.The company will publish registration documents for its IPO later today.
As expected AJ Bell’s 750 staff and 183,000 customers will be offered the chance to buy shares.
AJ Bell reported revenues up 19% to £89.7 million, profit before tax up 31% to £28.4 million and a 29% increase in basic earnings per share to 55.26 pence.
The company said performance was driven by strong growth in the core platform business with assets under administration increasing 25% to £38.6bn and platform customer numbers up 30% to 183,213.
Chief executive Andy Bell said: “The purpose at the heart of our business is to make it easy for people to invest.
“We do this by delivering innovative, low-cost and transparent investment products via our platform.
“This focus on the customer has enabled us to grow since formation in 1995 to become one of the largest investment platforms in the UK, spanning both D2C and advised markets.
“With nearly 200,000 customers and AUA of £46.1 billion, we are a business of scale operating in a fast growing market.
“We have a history of profitability, cash generation and dividends and this is once again demonstrated in our latest full year results.
“Our intention to float the business on the London Stock Exchange reflects both our historic achievements and our belief in how much more we can achieve. A listing offers us further reputational and commercial benefits that will support our growth plans.”
Details of the IPO have also been announced.
There will be a secondary sell-down of existing ordinary shares by selling shareholders. There is no intention for there to be a primary raise.
The Company will also offer participation to qualifying AJ Bell customers through its platform.
The Company intends that it would have a free float of at least 25% and expects that it would be eligible for inclusion in FTSE UK indices.
A prospectus including full details of the offer is expected to be published on or around 27 November 2018.
Law firm Pinsent Masons is acting for AJ Bell on the flotation.
