AJ Bell lifts full-year outlook after 'excellent' first half

(Sharecast News) - Investment platform AJ Bell lifted its full-year outlook on Thursday as it hailed an "excellent" first-half performance, with record customer growth.

In the six months to the end of March, underlying pre-tax profit rose 15% to £79m, with revenue up 19% to £183m.

Underlying diluted earnings per share were 18% higher at 14.61p and the company declared an interim dividend of 5p per share, up 11% on the same period a year earlier.

AJ Bell also announced an additional share buyback programme of up to £15m, to follow its ongoing £50m share buyback announced in December.

In the platform business, AJ Bell highlighted strong growth in customer numbers, with a record 79,000 added during the half, to 723,000. Assets under administration ticked up 5% to £108.7bn, driven by record net inflows of £4.2bn, up from £3.3bn a year earlier, and favourable market movements of £1.2bn versus £0.6bn.

Assets under management in the investment business rose 10% to £9.8bn, with "strong" net inflows of £0.6bn, down from £0.7bn a year earlier.

AJ Bell said the UK platform market continues to present significant structural growth opportunities, with an estimated £2.4 trillion being held off platform.

"We now expect full-year revenue margin, PBT and PBT margin to be higher than previously guided," it said. "Excellent returns from our investment in brand and marketing give us confidence to invest more than originally planned in the second half of the year, while still expecting to deliver materially higher profitability."

Chief executive Michael Summersgill said: "This performance clearly demonstrates the delivery of our strategy, as we reinvest the benefits of our scale and operational gearing into our brand, marketing capabilities and products, driving continued market share gains.

"Our strong financial position enables us to continue investing for growth while also increasing returns to shareholders, demonstrated by an 11% increase in the interim dividend and an additional share buyback programme of up to £15 million."

At 0910 BST, the shares were up 10.4% at 589.62p.

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