7 December 2023
AJ Bell plc
Final results for the year ended 30 September 2023
AJ Bell plc (‘AJ Bell’ or the ‘Company’), one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, today announces its final results for the year ended 30 September 2023.
Highlights
Financial performance
| ● | Record financial performance, with revenue up 33% to £218.2 million (FY22: £163.8 million) and profit before tax (PBT) up 50% to £87.7 million (FY22: £58.4 million) |
| ● | PBT margin of 40.2% (FY22: 35.6%), reflecting an increased revenue margin of 29.8bps (FY22: 22.6bps) together with total cost growth in line with previous guidance |
| ● | Diluted earnings per share up 46% to 16.53 pence (FY22: 11.35 pence) |
| ● | Final dividend of 7.25 pence per share proposed, increasing the total ordinary dividend for the year by 46% to 10.75 pence per share (FY22: 7.37 pence per share) in line with the Company’s stated dividend policy. This is the 19th consecutive year of ordinary dividend growth |
Platform business
| ● | Another successful year, with customers increasing by 50,880 to 476,532 and platform net inflows of £4.2 billion (FY22: £5.8 billion) |
| ● | Record assets under administration (AUA) of £70.9 billion (FY22: £64.1 billion), up 11% driven by the net inflows across the platform and favourable market movements of £2.6 billion |
| ● | Customer retention rate remained high at 95.2% (FY22: 95.5%) |
| ● | Consistently high customer service levels evidenced by AJ Bell’s Trustpilot rating of 4.8 |
AJ Bell Investments
| ● | Record net inflows in the year of £1.65 billion, up 57% versus the prior year (FY22: £1.05 billion underlying net inflows) |
| ● | Assets under management (“AUM”) of £4.7 billion, up 68% in the year (FY22: £2.8 billion) |
Michael Summersgill, Chief Executive Officer at AJ Bell, commented:
“I am pleased to report another year of strong financial performance for the business which has demonstrated our ability to continue to grow in different market conditions. Revenue increased 33% to £218.2 million, enabling us to reinvest in our customer proposition and our people, whilst delivering a record profit before tax of £87.7 million which supports an increased dividend for shareholders.
“We added over 50,000 customers to the platform in the year, reflecting the quality and value of our propositions, as well as increased investment in our brand. The growth in customers enabled us to deliver over £4 billion of net inflows, an excellent result which again highlights the benefit of operating our dual-channel platform.
“As we approach half a million platform customers, we remain 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.
“We continue to invest in our customer proposition with a focus on making it easy for people to invest. In the D2C market we have recently added the option to purchase bonds and gilts online in response to increased demand for these investments in the higher interest rate environment. Our free pension finding service has proved popular with customers trying to track down and consolidate lost pension pots and next year we will be expanding this into a low-cost pension consolidation service. This will enable people to find and automatically consolidate their existing pensions into one simple pension with ready-made investment options and a single annual charge of between 0.45% and 0.60%.
“In the advised market we continue to invest in new functionality to help advisers manage their client portfolios. A focus this year has been supporting advisers with the implementation of the Consumer Duty and next year we will roll out a new client onboarding process which will streamline the new business process for advisers. We have recently added a money market portfolio to our MPS range to provide another investment option for advisers and their clients in the current interest environment.
“Maintaining a strong culture and motivated workforce is essential to facilitating our continued business growth. We made several enhancements to our pay and benefits package in the year, including a new free share award scheme for all employees which encourages our staff to think and act like business owners. The success of our business is down to the quality of work and commitment of our people, and I would like to thank them for their outstanding contribution during the year.
“The strong financial performance of the business has led the Board to propose a final ordinary dividend of 7.25 pence per share, increasing the ordinary dividend for the year by 46% to 10.75 pence per share. This extends our record of ordinary dividend increases to 19 years.
“Our dual-channel platform has continued to perform strongly against the current backdrop of elevated inflation and interest rates, demonstrating our resilience through the economic cycle. Whilst the current challenging environment is likely to persist in the short term, I am confident that our long-term focus and continued investment in the business positions us well to take advantage of the structural growth opportunity for the platform market.”
Financial highlights
| Year ended30 September 2023 | Year ended30 September 2022 | Change | |
| Revenue | £218.2 million | £163.8 million | 33% |
| Revenue per £AUA* | 29.8bps | 22.6bps | 7.2bps |
| PBT | £87.7 million | £58.4 million | 50% |
| PBT margin | 40.2% | 35.6% | 4.6ppts |
| Diluted earnings per share | 16.53 pence | 11.35 pence | 46% |
| Total ordinary dividend per share | 10.75 pence | 7.37 pence | 46% |
Non-financial highlights
| Year ended30 September 2023 | Year ended30 September 2022 | Change | |
| Number of retail customers | 491,402 | 440,589 | 12% |
| – Platform | 476,532 | 425,652 | 12% |
| – Non-platform | 14,870 | 14,937 | – |
| AUA* | £76.1 billion | £69.2 billion | 10% |
| – Platform | £70.9 billion | £64.1 billion | 11% |
| – Non-platform | £5.2 billion | £5.1 billion | 2% |
| AUM* | £4.7 billion | £2.8 billion | 68% |
| Customer retention rate | 95.2% | 95.5% | (0.3ppts) |
*see definitions
Contacts:
AJ Bell
| ● | Shaun Yates, Investor Relations Director | +44 (0) 7522 235 898 |
| ● | Mike Glenister, Head of PR | +44 (0) 7719 554 575 |