AJ Bell reports 'strong' results with 50% jump in pre-tax profits

investmentweek.co.uk:

Michael Summersgill (pictured), CEO of AJ Bell

Covering the year ended 30 September 2023, AJ Bell reported that its pre-tax profits were up 50% for the period, increasing from £58.4m last year to £87.7m now.

The company also saw an almost 60,000 increase in customers for its D2C/DIY customer numbers combined, now sitting at 476,532.

This combined with net inflows of £4.2bn, a decrease on the previous results which saw £5.8bn.

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Meanwhile, AJ Bell Investments, the investment hub of the firm, recorded a 68% jump in its assets under management, from £2.8bn to £4.7bn.

Michael Summersgill, chief executive officer at AJ Bell, said he was «pleased to report another year of strong financial performance for the business», which he said, «demonstrated our ability to continue to grow in different market conditions».

He said that as the company neared the half a million customers mark, it remained «focused on providing a great value proposition, with a philosophy of sharing our scale benefits with customers».

«Having reduced several fees across the platform in 2022, this year we have increased the interest rates paid to customers several times and will soon be increasing them further, with a particular focus on pension drawdown where there is a customer need to hold cash to fund income payments,» he said.

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In a question and answer segment of the results, Summersgill was asked to reflect on the company's progress since its IPO five years ago.

The company is now a FTSE 250 firm and the CEO said that at the outset of its public listing, it sought to achieve «significant organic growth»