Manchester-based investment firm AJ Bell said on Thursday its revenue rose 17% to £50.1 million and profit before tax rose 27% to £17.7 million in the six months to March 31.

Customers increased by 16,941 in the period, up 9% to 214,853, and assets under administration (AUA) rose 3% to £47.7 billion.

Total net inflows were £1.8 billion, driven by platform net inflows of £2.1 billion.

AJ Bell CEO Andy Bell said: “Our first set of financial results as a publicly-listed company demonstrates the strength of our business model as outlined ahead of our IPO.

“The quality of our low-cost, easy-to-use investment platform enabled us to continue to attract customers and assets and this is reflected in our strong financial performance. 

“Revenue and profit both increased considerably and the board has declared an interim dividend of 1.50 pence per share in line with our dividend policy.

“This robust financial performance enables us to continue to invest in the platform to achieve our ambition of becoming the easiest platform to use, underpinning our principal purpose of helping people to invest. 

“This core focus on meeting the needs of advisers and customers, alongside our competitive pricing and high quality service model, means we are well positioned to capitalise on the growing market for investment platforms in the coming years.”