Founder of stockbroker cashes in £23m worth of shares

The founder of stockbroker AJ Bell has sold £23m worth of shares in the business.

Andy Bell, the man behind the Salford Quays firm, has sold has sold an aggregate 5,500,000 ordinary shares in AJ Bell at a price of 420 pence per share.

The sale has come just over 12 months after the firm floated on the Stock Market.

Following the deal Mr Bell, who is also chief executive of the firm, now owns 98,313,095 shares, representing 24% of the company.

At current market value his share in the firm is worth over £412m.

The remainder of the shares are subject to a lock-up which ends when the company publishes its interim results for the six months ended in March.

The two year lock-up entered into by the selling shareholder at the time of the initial public offering of ordinary shares will continue in accordance with its terms.

A statement said: “Andy Bell will remain the Company’s largest shareholder and is fully committed to the business and confident in the outlook.

“This small placing is being carried out in order to provide additional liquidity in response to strong investor interest in last week’s placing.

“The trade date for the placing will be 18 December 2019 and settlement is expected to occur on a T+2 basis on 20 December 2019. Numis is acting as sole bookrunner in connection with the placing.”

Earlier this month AJ Bell reported a profit before tax of £37.7m — an increase of 33 per cent and up £9.3m on the year before.

AJ Bell’s overall assets under administration grew by 13 per cent over the year, breaking the £50bn barrier to £52.3bn, while customers grew 17 per cent to 232,000.

Moor Hall

The businessman also owns the Moor Hall restaurant in West Lancashire which landed a Michelin star six months after opening.