23rd May 2019 08:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stockbroker AJ Bell PLC reported a pleasing set of interim results Thursday, the company's first, which saw profit and revenue jump as the stockbroker was able to increase its number of customers - resulting in a rise in assets under management.
In the six months to March 31, AJ Bell's pretax profit was up 27% to GBP17.7 million from GBP13.9 million the year before. The stockbroker's first half revenue was up 17% to GBP50.1 million from GBP42.9 million the prior year.
AJ Bell declared an interim dividend of 1.50 pence per share, 2.7% higher than the 1.46p distributed the year before, in line with the company's dividend policy.
The stockbroker's assets under management at the end of the period were up 3.5% from September 30, rising to GBP47.7 billion compared to GBP46.1 billion.
AJ Bell saw total net inflows of GBP1.8 billion, driven by Platform net inflows of GBP2.1 billion. Additionally, AJ Bell saw GBP500 million of inflows from defined-benefit pension transfers.
AJ Bell's Platform assets drove the growth in total assets, increasing 5.2% over the first half to GBP30.9 billion. The company's Advised Platform assets ended the half at GBP30.9 billion, 3.3% higher than at September 30. AJ Bell's D2C Platform asset closed the period 12% higher than the open at GBP9.7 billion.
"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," said Chief Executive Andy Bell.
AJ Bell's customers in the half increased 8.6% to 214,853 with the company's customer retention rate edging higher to 95.3% versus 95.1% the year before.
"The market and wider economy may not be without its challenges, with the FTSE All-Share index falling 4% in the six months to 31 March 2019, but our diversified revenue model ensures we are well placed to deal with such conditions. We remain confident in the growth of the platform market and our ability to capitalise on the resulting opportunities.," added Bell.
Shares in AJ Bell were down 1.4% Thursday morning at 425.00 pence each.
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