AJ Bell  

AJ Bell reaches half a million platform customers

AJ Bell reaches half a million platform customers
AJ Bell's Michael Summersgill. (AJ Bell)

AJ Bell's platform has reached a 'significant milestone' of half a million customers. 

The firm added 27,000 customers in the six months to March 31, bringing the total to 503,000. 

The firm's half year results, published this morning (May 23), showed platform assets under management was up 13 per cent, to a record £80.3bn. 

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This was driven by net inflows of £2.9bn, up 45 per cent on the £2bn recorded in the same period the previous year. 

CEO Michael Summersgill said: "Our dual-channel platform continued to deliver strong organic growth with 27,000 customers added in the period and total platform customers surpassing half a million, a significant milestone for the business.

"This growth in customers and AUA drove very strong financial performance, with both revenue and profit before tax up significantly."

Summersgill said strong business performance led the firm to review its approach to capital allocation. 

This will see it move away from a targeted 65 per cent ordinary dividend payout ratio in favour of what it called a "progressive ordinary dividend policy" with no specific payout target. 

In AJ Bell Investments, assets under management were up 23 per cent to close at £5.8bn and there were inflows of £800mn, compared to £900mn in the same period last year. 

Summersgill added: “We remain focused on our long-term organic growth strategy that has enabled us to increase our market share year after year.

"The platform market benefits from significant, structural growth drivers and the investments we are making in our brand and propositions put us in a great position to take advantage of that opportunity in the years to come.”

tara.o'connor@ft.com

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