19th Jan 2023 09:38
(Alliance News) - AJ Bell PLC on Thursday reported a fall in assets under administration from a year before, but a growing number of customers.
AJ Bell shares were down 7.1% to 343.783 pence each in London on Thursday morning, following the update.
The Manchester-based provider of investment services and platforms said that for its Platform business, assets under administration fell 2.6% to GBP66.3 billion on December 31 from GBP68.1 billion a year before. The number of total advised customers grew by 13% annually to 148,636 and were up 2.2% from 145,371 three months before.
Direct-to-consumer number rose by 14% to 285,729. In the quarter to December 31, AJ Bell's financial first quarter, net inflows to the platform were GBP800 million, compared to GBP1.4 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, AJ Bell said that for its Investments unit as at December 31, assets under management rose 62% from a year ago, and 21% from a quarer ago, to GBP3.4 billion. Net inflows jumped to GBP443 million from GBP182 million a year before.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Summersgill said: "I am pleased to announce a solid start to the financial year, with our platform continuing to attract new customers and assets across both the advised and direct-to-consumer markets. Whilst high inflation has inevitably squeezed household finances, we delivered GBP800 million of net inflows to the platform during the quarter. This performance demonstrates the value of our dual-channel business model which enables us to capture customer and asset growth from across the whole platform market."
Looking ahead, AJ Bell said: "We remain positive about the growth prospects for the investment platform market and are very well positioned to continue growing our market share."
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter
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