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AJ Bell (AJB) reveals boom in first-time investors

By Rob Griffin

12:05, 2 December 2021

Concept image of coin stacks and graphs set against a cityscape
The company has reported a total customer rise of 87,449 to 382,754 – Photo: Shutterstock

UK trading platform AJ Bell has enjoyed a record year with an increasing number of people starting to invest in the wake of Covid-19.

The company saw total customers rise 87,449 to 382,754, with net inflows of £6.4bn ($8.5bn) and assets under administration hitting a record £72.8bn.

In a statement, it also reported pre-tax profit had risen 13% to £55.1m for the year ending 30 September 2021, while revenue was up 15% to £145.8m.

Share price slips

AJ Bell also revealed a final dividend of 4.5p, as well as a special dividend of 5p-per-share. This brings the total dividend for the year to 11.96p-per-share.

Customer retention rate remained high at 95%, while the company said diluted earnings per share had risen 13% to 10.67p – compared to 9.47p for the full-year 2020.

Despite the positive set of results, AJ Bell’s stock price actually slipped 1.37% to 389.6p by late morning in London, which is believed to be due to profit-taking.

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Long-term opportunities

CEO Andy Bell said he continued to see significant long-term opportunities in the investment platform market.

“The pandemic has highlighted the need for people to take more control over their financial future, with increasing numbers of people investing for the first time,” he said.

US100

15,859.90 Price
+0.220% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0263%
Short position overnight fee 0.0041%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 1.8

XRP/USD

0.63 Price
-0.360% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0753%
Short position overnight fee 0.0069%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01168

BTC/USD

43,933.20 Price
+4.250% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 106.00

Oil - Crude

72.71 Price
-0.970% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0224%
Short position overnight fee 0.0005%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.030

He also pointed out that Dodl by AJ Bell, a new investment app, will enable retail investors to invest easily in a range of UK equities and funds, via a full range of tax wrappers.

New appointment

AJ Bell also announced that Peter Birch will join the company as CFO at the beginning of July 2022, subject to FCA approval.

Chair Les Platts said: “His significant financial services experience, built up over many years, will make a valuable contribution to the Board."

In a statement, Birch said he had followed AJ Bell’s progress for many years and had always been impressed by its “strong culture” and customer focus.

“It is an exciting time to join the business and I look forward to helping the company to deliver on its long-term growth strategy,” he added.

 

Read more: Young investors shun meme stocks and crypto for gold: The Royal Mint

Markets in this article

AJB
AJ Bell Plc
2.6910 USD
0.1155 +4.650%

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The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
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