AJ Bell shares surge as profit jumps on record net inflows

(Alliance News) - AJ Bell PLC shares jumped on Thursday as it hailed an "excellent financial performance" in its first half as earnings jumped.

The Manchester, England-based retail investment platform said pretax profit jumped 35% to GBP92.8 million in the six months to the end of March from GBP68.8 million a year prior.

Revenue climbed 19% to GBP183.0 million from GBP153.2 million.

AJ Bell shares led the FTSE 250 and rose 12% to 600.50 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

AJ Bell declared an interim dividend of 5.00 pence per share, up 11% from 4.50p.

In addition, it set out a further share buyback programme of up to GBP15 million, on top of the previously announced GBP50 million programme.

AJ Bell said it added a record 79,000 customers during the first period, to close at 723,000.

Platform assets under administration grew 5% in the period to GBP108.7 billion, driven by record net inflows of GBP4.2 billion, up 19% from GBP3.3 billion a year ago. Favourable market movements added GBP1.2 billion, compared to GBP600 million.

Looking ahead, AJ Bell said it now expects full year revenue margin, pretax profit and pretax profit margin to be higher than previously guided.

The firm added: "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 Officer Michael Summersgill said: "The platform market presents significant long‑term growth opportunities, and our continued business investment positions us well to capitalise on these. We remain confident in the outlook, with strong momentum continuing into the second half of the year."

By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter

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