Salford-based investment platform giant AJ Bell said on Friday it returned £64 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in the six months to March 31, 2025, as it reported a “strong financial performance” for the period.
AJ Bell said its first-half revenue rose 17% to £153.2 million and profit before tax (PBT) was up 12% to £68.8 million.
The firm said it returned a total of £64 million to shareholders — consisting of a final dividend of £34 million and the completion of its £30 million share buyback programme in April.
It said interim dividend of 4.50p per share, up 6% versus the prior year, alongside a further share buyback programme of up to £25 million, reflects its “strong cash generation and ongoing commitment to return surplus capital to shareholders.”
The Salford firm’s shares rose roughly 8% on Friday to around £4.92 to give the company a stock market value of about £2 billion. The shares are up roughly 22% for the past year.
AJ Bell reported strong growth in customer numbers, with 51,000 added in the period to close up 9% at 593,000.
Platform assets under administration (AUA) rose 5% in the period to a record £90.4 billion, driven by net inflows of £3.3 billion and favourable market movements of £0.6 billion (HY24: £6.5 billion).
At the AJ Bell Investments business, assets under management (AUM) rose 10% to £7.5 billion.
AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said: “I am pleased to report another strong set of first half results. Our dual-channel platform continued to deliver organic growth, adding over 50,000 customers in the period and net inflows of £3.3 billion, resulting in AUA surpassing £90 billion for the first time. This performance has been driven by our low-cost, easy-to-use propositions, excellent customer service and improved brand awareness, demonstrating the benefits of our continued investment in these areas.
“The increase in customers and AUA delivered strong financial performance, with revenue up 17% to £153.2 million and profit before tax up 12% to £68.8 million. Our strong financial position has enabled us to continue investing in the business, whilst also returning £64.0 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks since the year end.
“In accordance with our capital allocation framework, we are pleased to declare an interim dividend of 4.50 pence per share, up 6% versus prior year, alongside the initiation of a second share buyback programme of up to £25 million, reflecting our ongoing commitment to return surplus capital to shareholders.
“We have repeatedly broken our own records for new customer applications during the recent tax year end, seamlessly adding thousands of new customers attracted to the AJ Bell brand and our simple, low-cost products. In March and April there was also significant market volatility, resulting in heightened levels of customer activity. During this period, we continued to provide great service to our customers and advisers, illustrating the scalability and resilience of our operations.
“Our focus remains on delivering long-term organic growth and continuing to increase our market share. The structural drivers of growth in the platform market remain strong, and the investments we are making in our brand and propositions put us in a great position to capitalise on this significant opportunity.
“Looking ahead, there is the potential for policy developments to present further market growth opportunities. In particular, a customer-centred approach to ISA simplification could remove the barriers that currently exist between saving and long-term investing in the ISA system. Such a change to ISAs would be supercharged by Targeted Support, which would allow firms to provide personalised guidance, increasing the number of customers who feel confident to invest for the first time.
“We are well positioned to continue to succeed and invest for long-term growth across a range of different market conditions. We have started the second half of the year well, with March’s strong momentum continuing into April.”