(Alliance News) - AJ Bell PLC's founder has sold just under a 2% stake in the company in a share placing through an accelerated bookbuild, broker Numis Securities Ltd confirmed on Friday.
Andy Bell has sold 7.5 million shares in the Manchester, England-based retail investment platform, a 1.8% chunk of its existing issued capital.
The share sale, first announced late on Thursday, was priced at 375 pence per share raising GBP28.1 million.
Shares in AJ Bell fell 3.7% to 388.00 pence each early Friday.
Bell now holds a 18.7% stake in the company. Those shares now are subject to a lock-up and can't be sold for the next 90 days, Numis noted.
The company itself was not party to the share placing and will not receive any proceeds.
On Thursday, the stock had jumped 11% on the back of well-received earnings.
The firm raised its interim dividend by more than 20% and expressed confidence in its long-term outlook amid a jump in profit.
Pretax profit jumped 47% to GBP61.4 million in the six months to March 31 from GBP41.9 million a year prior.
Revenue climbed 27% to GBP131.3 million from GBP103.6 million. Notably, investment income surged to GBP2.9 million from GBP801,000.
AJ Bell declared an interim dividend of 4.25 pence per share, up 21% from 3.50p a year prior.
Also Thursday, it said William Mackay, the managing director of AJ Bell's Advised offering, sold 50,882 shares at GBP3.93 each on Thursday, around GBP200,000 in total. Mackay now owns a 0.4% stake in AJ Bell.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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AJ Bell (AJB)
