City round up: AJ Bell half year results; Chairman ups Coral stake; new man at Cropper
AJ Bell increased revenue by 27% in the first half of its financial year to £131m with pre-tax profits growing by 47% to £61.4m.
Michael Summersgill, Chief Executive Officer at AJ Bell, said results also showed strong organic growth with 27,000 customers added in the period and total platform customers surpassing half a million, which he described as “a significant milestone for the business”.
He added: “We attracted platform net inflows of £2.9 billion, up 45% versus the prior year, to take closing platform AUA to a record £80.3 billion. This growth in customers and AUA drove very strong financial performance, with both revenue and profit before tax up significantly.
“We remain focused on our long-term organic growth strategy that has enabled us to increase our market share year after year. The platform market benefits from significant, structural growth drivers and the investments we are making in our brand and propositions put us in a great position to take advantage of that opportunity in the years to come.”
Analysts from Panmure Gordon said the results out performed their expectations: “The doors were properly blown off. The company continues to reinvest in its proposition, so the H1 performance does not annualise but then the bear arguments do not hold either, and there is a new capital policy to consider with the prospect of either special dividends or buy backs. It is a tough day for the non-believers.”
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Joe Grimmond with new machinery at Tatra Rotalac
Joe Grimmond, chairman of Coral Products has raised his stake in plastic products business based in Wythenshawe, Manchester, by purchasing 4,000 ordinary shares in the Company of 1p each (“Ordinary Shares”) at 11.33 pence per Ordinary Share.
As a result Grimmond now has a 7.30 % stake.
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James Cropper plc has appointed Andy Walton as Managing Director, James Cropper Advanced Materials, a non-Board position, with effect from 29 July 2024. Andy will become a member of the Executive Committee and report directly to the Chief Executive Officer.
Andy has over 30 years of experience in the chemicals, sustainable solutions, and advanced materials sectors. He has led multiple global businesses to deliver high performance solutions to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers within Aerospace, Automotive, Energy and Industrial end markets. Andy has a track record of driving significant growth through the positioning of disruptive technologies, P&L management, organisational development, and growth in new business.
Andy joins from Victrex plc, a leader in high performance polymer solutions, where he was most recently Strategic Business Unit Director, Transport.
