Profits soar by 27% at Manchester investment firm

Profits before tax soared by almost a third to £17.7m at Manchester investment firm AJ Bell in its first six months since floating on the Stock Market.

Revenues were up 17% to £50.1m and profit before tax was up 27% to £17.7m.

The balance sheet strengthened, with net assets up 15% in the period to £73.8m.

The number of customers increased by 16,941 in the period, up 9% to 214,853 and assets under administration (AUA) up 3% during the period to £47.7b.

Andy Bell, chief executive at AJ Bell, said: “Our first set of financial results as a publicly-listed company demonstrates the strength of our business model as outlined ahead of our IPO.

“The quality of our low-cost, easy-to-use investment platform enabled us to continue to attract customers and assets and this is reflected in our strong financial performance.

“Revenue and profit both increased considerably and the board has declared an interim dividend of 1.50 pence per share in line with our dividend policy.

“This robust financial performance enables us to continue to invest in the platform to achieve our ambition of becoming the easiest platform to use, underpinning our principal purpose of helping people to invest.

“This core focus on meeting the needs of advisers and customers, alongside our competitive pricing and high quality service model, means we are well positioned to capitalise on the growing market for investment platforms in the coming years.”

Andy Bell added a word of warning about the economy.

He said: “Whilst 2019 has seen a partial recovery in markets, further volatility is expected as the current economic and political uncertainty continues to impact on our customers’ decision-making.

“We are confident that the continued growth of the platform market, the robustness of our business model and our ongoing investment in systems and processes will enable us to support our customers’ future needs in the face of unpredictable markets.

“The UK base rate remains historically low, despite the increase to 0.75% in August last year. Any further moves from the Bank of England are likely to be influenced by Brexit.

“We have remained highly profitable whilst operating in a low interest rate environment for over a decade, and our diversified revenue model ensures we maintain a degree of resilience to further changes in the UK’s monetary policy.

“We have delivered a strong financial performance in the interim period. Our strategy is clear, we remain committed to helping our customers to invest by delivering the easiest platform to use in the market and we remain focused on growing the business.”