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(Alliance News) - AJ Bell PLC said Thursday it grew assets and customer numbers in its recently completed financial year and is confident of future growth.
The online investment platform ended the year to September 30 with assets under administration of GBP56.5 billion, up 8% from GBP52.3 billion at the same point a year before.
Of this, AJ Bell's platform AuA closed the year at GBP49.7 billion from GBP44.9 billion, while non-platform assets fell to GBP6.8 billion from GBP7.4 billion.
The platform recorded GBP4.1 billion of net inflows, up 28% from GBP3.2 billion in financial 2019.
The broker's total number of customers rose by 27% to 295,305, with the number of platform customers up 29% to 281,094.
"We are pleased to report another year of strong growth in customers and assets under administration, delivered against a continuing backdrop of extreme market volatility and significant disruption to people's lives caused by Covid-19. Our focus on the needs of our customers and our easy-to-use platform has fuelled a 29% increase in platform customers, with particularly strong progress made in the direct-to-consumer market. Inflows also rose markedly, resulting in a robust increase in assets under administration despite heavy falls on the UK stock market," Chief Executive Andy Bell said.
He continued: "Our operational resilience has shone through since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK and we were able to adapt quickly to ensure we continued to meet the needs of customers and advisers."
Looking ahead, Bell believes the firm is "well positioned to continue delivering strong growth in both the advised and D2C markets."
Shares in AJ Bell were 0.5% higher in London on Thursday at 406.00 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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