Diversification is key to growth, says AJ Bell as half-year profits leap
OLD Trafford-based pensions administrator AJ Bell is predicting a strong finish to the year after adding a variety of new product lines which are helping to broaden its financial services offer.
The company has revealed that in the six months to March 31, revenues increased by 18% to just over £20m, while pre-tax profits climbed by 24% to £9.3m.
The firm said that it now has 55,498 SIPPs under its administration, which is a 24% increase on last year, and the net new number of SIPPs written increased by 62% during the period to 7,192. The total amount of assets under its administration climbed by 20% to £15.1bn.
A joint statement accompanying the results from chairman Jim Martin and chief executive Andy Bell said that the outlook for the remainder of the year was “very positive” following the launch of its Sippdeal ISA and share dealing accounts products in April.
The pair said the new products “represent our first steps outside of pensions into the wider retail savings and investment market and will enable us to compete effectively in the growing platform sector”.
“We will continue to focus on SIPPs but these new products are complementary to, and share many of the attractive features of, our existing SIPP products.”
The pair said that more product enhancements were planned over the next year and that it was planning to increase its own marketing activity “to ensure we take maximum advantage of these new products and pricing initiatives”.
The firm also said that from the beginning of next month, Richard Taylor would become its new chief operating officer while commercial director Fergus Lyons will pick up responsibility for sales and marketing.
It also said that chief financial officer Stuart Dootson has recently left the company “having played a key role in developing corporate governance to plc levels”. He has been replaced by Michael Summersgill, who had already worked within AJ Bell’s finance division.
