(Alliance News) -Â Investment platform AJ Bell PLC rewarded shareholders with a chunky special dividend, but shares dipped on Thursday as growth in full-year profit and revenue fell just shy of consensus.
Shares in AJ Bell were down 2.1% at 387.00 pence in London on Thursday, underperforming the wider FTSE 250 which 0.8% lower mid-morning.
AJ Bell reported a pretax profit of GBP55.1 million in the year that ended September 30, up 13% from the GBP48.6 million a year before. Annual revenue grew 15% to GBP145.8 million from GBP126.7 million.
However, consensus, according to company-complied figures, had been looking for revenue of GBP146.7 million and pretax profit of GBP57.0 million.
"Long-term revenue drivers were much more positive however," commented Rob Murphy, managing director of financials at Edison, pointing to AJ Bell's strong customer growth.
AJ Bell reported a 30% increase in customer numbers to 382,754 from 295,305. The company added that customer retention remained high and mostly flat at 95% during the year, and that its range of investment solutions seemed to be popular with consumers.
The mid-cap firm declared a total ordinary dividend for the year of 6.96p, up 13% on the 6.16p declared the year before. Market consensus had been looking for a figure of 7.18p.
On top of this, however, the company also proposed a special dividend of 5.00p - taking the total dividend for the year up to 11.96p, nearly double the 6.16p paid out the year before.
Chief Executive Andy Bell said the special dividend reflects the company's confidence in its outlook.
AJ Bell affirmed it is well-positioned to capitalise on future opportunities as the UK investment platform market continues to grow.
"Looking ahead, as seen in the latter half of this period, the group expects customer dealing activity on its D2C platform to remain at normalised levels and with potential headwinds to markets from tightening central bank policy, AJ Bell's growth will be determined by its continued client acquisition and technology investments," commented Edison's Murphy.
One of these investments, announced earlier this week, is the launch of low-cost investment app Dodl. This is targeted for the first half of 2022.
Dodl will have an annual platform charge of 0.15% but will not charge commissions on buying and selling investments. It will "enable retail investors to invest easily in a range of UK equities and funds", Andy Bell said on Thursday.
The firm will also launch Touch, a new mobile-led investment platform for financial advisers.
Murphy added: "These two new propositions will broaden the group's reach into the D2C and advised markets as AJ Bell looks to the next generation of customers and advisers."
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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AJ Bell (AJB)
