AJ Bell reports 'record-breaking' third-quarter growth

(Sharecast News) - AJ Bell reported "record-breaking" third-quarter net inflows and customer growth on Thursday, driven by strong momentum across both its advised and direct-to-consumer (D2C) platforms. The FTSE 250 investment platform provider said its total assets under administration (AuA) rose 6% in the quarter to £96.1bn, up 15% year-on-year.

Customer numbers grew by 27,000 in the three months to 30 June, reaching 620,000 - an increase of 17% over the year and 5% during the quarter.

Advised customers rose by 2% to 180,000, while the D2C segment expanded 6% to 440,000.

The group also added 2,000 D2C customers through the migration of accounts from a third-party SIPP arrangement as part of its strategic platform consolidation.

Underlying gross inflows across the platform reached £4bn, up from £3.7bn a year earlier, while underlying net inflows rose to £2.1bn from £1.7bn.

Including the SIPP migration, total net inflows hit a record £2.5bn for the quarter.

AJ Bell said the growth was also supported by favourable market movements, which contributed 4% of opening AuA.

"I am pleased to report a quarter of record-breaking growth for the business, with our dual-channel platform delivering our strongest ever quarterly net inflows of £2.5bn and attracting over 25,000 new customers," said chief executive Michael Summersgill.

"These results underscore the strength of our low-cost, easy-to-use propositions across both the Advised and D2C platform markets."

The group's investment arm, AJ Bell Investments, saw assets under management increase 8% in the quarter to £8.1bn, marking a 29% rise over the year.

Net inflows of £0.4bn matched the prior-year period.

Summersgill said the business had navigated a volatile start to the quarter as global markets wobbled, with elevated trading activity early on before conditions stabilised.

"Markets have since rebounded positively from late April through June, and dealing activity has normalised towards the long-term average levels seen earlier in the year," he noted.

During the period, AJ Bell launched its new simplified advised platform, AJ Bell Touch, which it said offers an app-only service aimed at helping advisers reach underserved client segments.

"AJ Bell Touch will sit alongside our existing advised platform offering, allowing advisers to service clients efficiently within a streamlined, app-only customer proposition," Summersgill noted.

The company reaffirmed its support for regulatory reforms to improve access to low-cost investment products, including the Targeted Support framework and proposed ISA simplification.

AJ Bell said it was encouraged by the government's commitment to raising public awareness of investing and sees this as a potential catalyst for broader retail participation.

"We enter the final quarter with strong momentum which underpins our confidence in the full year performance," Summersgill said.

"Our dual-channel strategy, supported by continued investment in our brand and propositions, positions us well to capture further share in the fast-growing UK platform market."

At 1042 BST, shares in AJ Bel were up 3.09% at 533.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.