AJ Bell expects boost from LTA axe as revenue rises

Platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell has reported a 37% rise in revenue to £103.6m for its half year ended 31 March, in figures out today. Profit before tax for the period rose by 61% to £41.9m. The company said it had seen strong “organic” growth during the period. Customer numbers were up by 7% in the first half to 455,008. Despite record inflows, total assets on the advised platform and D2C platform fell by over £1bn from £65.3bn to £64.1bn amid challenging conditions for clients. Total Platform assets under administration (AUA) rose 7% in the first half to £68.6 billion with net inflows of £2.0 billion (HY22: £3.0 billion) and favourable market movements of £2.5 billion. The company says it should benefit from the scrapping of the Lifetime Allowance, which should boost pension investment, and has called for reform of ISAs to make them simpler and easier to invest in. AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said: “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. “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.”

AJ Bell expects boost from LTA axe as revenue rises

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