Manchester-based investment platform, AJ Bell, revealed double digit increases in its interim revenues and pre-tax profits today (May 21), and raised its forecast for the full year.
In the six months to March 31, 2026, revenues jumped by 19% to £183m and underlying profit before tax rose by 35% to £92.8m.
The group returned £77.3m to shareholders, comprising the final dividend of £39m and £38.3m of share buybacks under the ongoing programme.
The interim dividend has been set at 5p per share, up 11% on the previous interim announcement.
A further £15m share buyback programme is under way.
There was strong growth in customer numbers in the Platform business, with a record 79,000 added in the period to close at 723,000, up 12%.
Platform AUA (assets under administration) rose by five per cent in the period to £108.7bn, driven by record net inflows of £4.2bn (HY25: £3.3bn) and favourable market movements of £1.2bn (HY25: £0.6bn).
In the Investment business AUM (assets under management) increased by 10% in the period to close at £9.8bn with strong net inflows in the period of £0.6bn (HY25: £0.7bn).
The sale of the Platinum SIPP and SSAS business, in the non-Platform business, completed in November 2025, resulting in £3.3bn of non-platform AUA transferring to InvestAcc Group Limited.
The group expects to exit its remaining third-party SIPP arrangement in the second half of the year, further simplifying its business model and allowing management to focus on the core Platform business.
Looking ahead, AJ Bell said the UK Platform market continues to present significant structural growth opportunities, with an estimated £2.4 trillion being held off Platform.
The group now expects full year revenue margin, profit before tax and profit before tax margin to be higher than previously guided. Excellent returns from its investment in brand and marketing give it confidence to invest more than originally planned in the second half of the year, while still expecting to deliver materially higher profitability.
CEO, Michael Summersgill, described the results as “excellent” and said: “We delivered record customer growth, adding 79,000 customers in the period, alongside record ne inflows of £4.2bn. This performance clearly demonstrates the delivery of our strategy, as we reinvest the benefits of our scale and operational gearing into our brand, marketing capabilities and products, driving continued market share gains.
“This strong business momentum has supported an excellent financial performance, with revenue increasing by 19% to £183m and underlying profit before tax rising by 15% to £79m. Our strong financial position enables us to continue investing for growth while also increasing returns to shareholders, demonstrated by an 11% increase in the interim dividend and an additional share buyback programme of up to £15m.
“We have continually invested in our hybrid technology model, focused on delivering easy‑to‑use products on a scalable platform. As AI becomes increasingly important across the industry, we see it as an enabler to develop our platform, operations and customer interactions.
“Our strategy is to deploy AI across three key opportunities; to drive operational gearing, support ongoing product development and enhance distribution routes. We have developed an internal GenAI platform, providing a centralised, secure and model‑agnostic foundation that we are leveraging to deliver these opportunities.”
He added: “The Government’s ambition to boost retail investing is encouraging, however in both pension and ISA markets we continue to see complexity and uncertainty.
“Ahead of fiscal events in 2024 and 2025, speculation around potential pension tax changes, driven by a lack of policy clarity, caused more than £1bn of excess pension withdrawals from our platform. This reflects a broader industry‑wide trend across the two periods, which makes long term retirement planning more difficult for consumers and reinforces the need for the clear government commitment to pension tax stability we have repeatedly called for.
“Likewise proposed ISA reforms will create significant complexity, despite there being little evidence the measures will increase retail investing. We believe formal public consultation is crucial to ensure the ISA framework effectively supports retail investors, with limited time now remaining before implementation.
“The Platform market presents significant long term growth opportunities, and our continued business investment positions us well to capitalise on these. We remain confident in the outlook, with strong momentum continuing into the second half of the year.”
