AJ Bell plc (LON: AJB), one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, issued a trading update in respect of the three months ended 31 December 2019, ahead of its Annual General Meeting later today.
Performance overview
Total customer numbers increased by 4% in the quarter to 241,152, with total assets under administration up 5% to £54.7 billion.
AJ Bell’s growth during the quarter was driven by the platform business:
· Platform customer numbers increased by 9,033 to 227,202, up 4% in the quarter
· Platform AUA increased by 5% over the quarter to £47.2 billion
o Advised Platform AUA up 4% to £35.2 billion
o D2C Platform AUA up 8% to £12.0 billion
· Underlying platform inflows, representing organic growth in the quarter, increased to £1.3 billion (2018: £1.2 billion)
Andy Bell, Chief Executive Officer at AJ Bell, commented:
“Our investment platform continues to attract new customers and assets as we maintain our focus on being the easiest platform to use in order to help our customers to invest.
“December saw the unlocking of the parliamentary deadlock, which boosted markets towards the end of the period. Combined with positive net inflows onto the platform, this helped our platform assets under administration increase to a new high of £47.2 billion, up 27% compared to a year ago.
“Whilst Brexit is by no means resolved, a majority Government does at least provide some clearer direction which many investors will appreciate as they consider making the most of their ISA and pension allowances before the end of the tax year.”
