Shares of Salford-based investment platform giant AJ Bell rose as much as 10% on Thursday after it said it now expect full-year revenue margin, profit before tax (PBT) and PBT margin “to be higher than previously guided.”
Publishing interim results for the six months to March 31, 2026, AJ Bell reported first-half revenue up 19% to £183 million and underlying profit before tax up 15% to £79 million.
Statutory first-half profit before tax rose 35% to £92.8 million “reflecting a net exceptional gain of £13.8 million.”
AJ Bell said it returned a total of £77.3 million to shareholders in the first half, consisting of the final dividend of £39 million and £38.3 million of share buybacks under its ongoing programme.
The firm detailed a further share buyback programme of up to £15 million, in addition to the previously announced £50 million programme, “supported by excellent financial performance and strong cash generation.”
Interim dividend rose 11% to 5p per share.
The Salford ccomany reported strong growth in customer numbers, with a record 79,000 added in the period to close at 723,000, up 12%.
Platform assets under administration were up 5% in the period to £108.7 billion, driven by record net inflows of £4.2 billion (HY25: £3.3 billion) and favourable market movements of £1.2 billion (HY25: £0.6 billion).
At the firm’s investment business, assets under management increased 10% in the period to close at £9.8 billion.
AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said: “I am delighted to report an excellent set of first‑half results. We delivered record customer growth, adding 79,000 customers in the period, alongside record net inflows of £4.2 billion. 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 £183.0 million and underlying profit before tax rising by 15% to £79.0 million. 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 £15 million.
“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.
“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 £1 billion 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.”