AJ Bell plc., one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, has today announced its interim results for the six-month period ended 31 March 2023.
Highlights
Financial performance
● | Strong financial performance, with revenue up 37% to £103.6 million (HY22: £75.5 million) and profit before tax (PBT) up 61% to £41.9 million (HY22: £26.1 million) |
● | PBT margin of 40.4% (HY22: 34.6%), driven by an increased revenue margin of 29.0bps (HY22: 20.3bps) |
● | Diluted earnings per share up 57% to 7.96 pence (HY22: 5.08 pence) |
● | Interim dividend of 3.50 pence per share, up 26% versus prior year (HY22: 2.78 pence) |
Platform business
● | Another period of growth for the platform business, with customer numbers up by 7% in the first half to 455,008 |
● | Platform assets under administration (AUA) up 7% in the first half to £68.6 billion, driven by net inflows of £2.0 billion (HY22: £3.0 billion) and favourable market movements of £2.5 billion |
● | Strong customer retention rate maintained at 95.5% (HY22: 95.5%) |
AJ Bell Investments
● | Assets under management (AUM) increased by 39% in the first half to close at £3.9 billion |
● | Record net inflows in the period of £0.9 billion (HY22: £0.4 billion underlying net inflows) |
Michael Summersgill, Chief Executive Officer at AJ Bell, commented:
“Our first-half results announced today demonstrate the strength of our business model and how our diversified revenue streams enable us to perform well in a range of different market conditions. Revenue increased 37% to £103.6 million and profit before tax rose 61% to £41.9 million which means we can continue to invest in our customer offering, our people and our brand, whilst simultaneously increasing our interim dividend to shareholders.
“We continue to focus intently on our customer proposition and service offering, which has ensured we continue to welcome new customers to our platform and retain existing ones. This helped generate strong net inflows of £2 billion during a period of challenging market conditions, which contributed to platform assets under administration increasing to £68.6 billion.
“The strength of our pension offering ensures we are in a good position to benefit from the removal of the pension lifetime allowance charge and increases to pension annual allowances in April. We have campaigned for pension simplification for many years and believe these welcome changes will give customers the freedom to invest more in their pensions without having to worry about tax penalties as their investments grow over time.
“We have recently called for similarly bold action from the Government in the ISA market in order to further simplify investing for consumers. At their core ISAs are a simple, tax-efficient savings account but the multiple versions that now exist make it hard for people to know which one is right for them. We believe there only needs to be one ISA that condenses the multiple variants back into a single product that is easy to understand and more likely to encourage investment.
“Our dual-channel platform and range of low-cost investment solutions help people take control of their investments, whether they do that on their own or with the help of a financial adviser. This breadth of offering, combined with high service standards and competitive charges, positions us well to continue attracting new customers and assets to our platform and further increase our market share.”
Financial highlights
Six months ended 31 March 2023 | Six months ended 31 March 2022 | Change | |
Revenue | £103.6 million | £75.5 million | 37% |
Revenue margin* | 29.0bps | 20.3bps | 8.7bps |
PBT | £41.9 million | £26.1 million | 61% |
PBT margin | 40.4% | 34.6% | 5.8ppts |
Diluted earnings per share | 7.96 pence | 5.08 pence | 57% |
Interim dividend per share | 3.50 pence | 2.78 pence | 26% |
Non-financial highlights
Six months ended 31 March 2023 | Year ended 30 September 2022 | Change | |
Number of retail customers | 469,929 | 440,589 | 7% |
– Platform | 455,008 | 425,652 | 7% |
– Non-platform | 14,921 | 14,937 | – |
AUA* | £73.8 billion | £69.2 billion | 7% |
– Platform | £68.6 billion | £64.1 billion | 7% |
– Non-platform | £5.2 billion | £5.1 billion | 2% |
AUM* | £3.9 billion | £2.8 billion | 39% |
Customer retention rate | 95.5% | 95.5% | – |
*see alternative performance measures