AJ Bell PLC Year-end Trading Update (8182C)

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RNS Number : 8182C

AJ Bell PLC

22 October 2020

22 October 2020

AJ Bell plc

Year-end trading update

AJ Bell plc ("AJ Bell" or the "Company"), one of the UK's largest investment platforms, today issues a trading update in respect of its financial year ended 30 September 2020.

Performance overview

Total customer numbers increased by 27% in the year to 295,305, with total assets under administration up 8% to GBP56.5bn. In comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index fell by 19% in the year.

AJ Bell's growth in the year was driven by the platform business:

 
      --   Platform customer numbers increased organically by 62,925 to 
            281,094, up 29% in the year 
              o Advised customers increased by 10,855 to 108,911, up 11% 
               in the year 
               o D2C customers increased by 52,070 to 172,183, up 43% in the 
               year 
      --   Platform underlying net inflows, representing organic growth 
            in the year, increased by 28% versus the prior year to GBP4.1 
            billion (FY19: GBP3.2 billion) 
              o Advised underlying net inflows of GBP2.0 billion, up 11% 
               on the prior year 
               o D2C underlying net inflows of GBP2.1 billion, up 50% on the 
               prior year 
      --   Platform AUA closed at GBP49.7 billion, up 11% in the last 
            year 
 

Andy Bell, Chief Executive Officer at AJ Bell, commented:

"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.

"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. Our staff continue to do a fantastic job during this very difficult time and the growth of the business that we are reporting today could not have been delivered without their resilience and outstanding work.

"We continued to enhance our platform propositions this year as part of our growth strategy. Our Retirement Investment Account is a new streamlined pension product which has been very popular with financial advisers. More recently we launched our Cash savings hub to help retail investors generate better returns on their cash savings at a time when NS&I and major retail banks have cut their interest rates. We have experienced a number of economic cycles during our 25-year history and have a track record of increasing AUA year after year in all market conditions. Our platform propositions remain well positioned to continue delivering strong growth in both the advised and D2C markets."

Notice of annual results

AJ Bell expects to announce its full results for the year ended 30 September 2020 on 3 December 2020.

 
  Year ended                              Advised   D2C Platform         Total   Non-platform          Total 
   30 September 2020                     Platform     GBPbillion      Platform     GBPbillion     GBPbillion 
                                       GBPbillion                   GBPbillion 
 
 Opening AUA                                 33.8           11.1          44.9            7.4           52.3 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Underlying inflows(1)                        3.6            3.0           6.6            0.1            6.7 
 Outflows(2)                                (1.6)          (0.9)         (2.5)          (0.8)          (3.3) 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 Underlying net inflows/(outflows)            2.0            2.1           4.1          (0.7)            3.4 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 DB inflows(3)                                0.8              -           0.8              -            0.8 
 
 Total net inflows/(outflows)                 2.8            2.1           4.9          (0.7)            4.2 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Market and other movements(4)              (0.3)            0.2         (0.1)            0.1              - 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 Closing AUA                                 36.3           13.4          49.7            6.8           56.5 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Opening customers                         98,056        120,113       218,169         13,897        232,066 
 Closing customers                        108,911        172,183       281,094         14,211        295,305 
 
 
  Year ended                              Advised   D2C Platform         Total   Non-platform          Total 
   30 September 2019                     Platform     GBPbillion      Platform     GBPbillion     GBPbillion 
                                       GBPbillion                   GBPbillion 
 
 Opening AUA                                 29.9            8.7          38.6            7.5           46.1 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Underlying inflows(1)                        3.4            2.0           5.4            0.1            5.5 
 Outflows(2)                                (1.6)          (0.6)         (2.2)          (0.5)          (2.7) 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 Underlying net inflows                       1.8            1.4           3.2          (0.4)            2.8 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 DB inflows(3)                                0.9              -           0.9              -            0.9 
 Migration inflows(5)                           -            0.2           0.2              -            0.2 
 
 Total net inflows/(outflows)                 2.7            1.6           4.3          (0.4)            3.9 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Market and other movements(4)                1.2            0.8           2.0            0.3            2.3 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 Closing AUA                                 33.8           11.1          44.9            7.4           52.3 
-----------------------------------  ------------  -------------  ------------  -------------  ------------- 
 
 Opening customers                         88,658         94,555       183,213         14,699        197,912 
 Closing customers                         98,056        120,113       218,169         13,897        232,066 
 

(1) Includes transfers-in, subscriptions, contributions and tax relief, excluding inflows from DB pension transfers and bulk migrations

(2) Includes (transfers-out, cash withdrawals, benefits and tax payments)

(3) Inflows to the advised platform from defined benefit pension transfers. It is anticipated that this figure will not be shown separately in future updates

(4) Includes (charges, taxes deducted, investment returns and revaluations)

(5) AJ Bell plc shares held by employees and former employees of the Company, which were migrated onto the D2C Platform ahead of IPO

Contacts:

AJ Bell

-- Shaun Yates, Head of Investor Relations [phone]

-- Charlie Musson, Head of PR [phone]

Historical AUA and customer numbers by quarter

 
 Advised Platform             Qtr to      Qtr to    Qtr to    Qtr to       Qtr to 
                                  30          31        31        30           30 
  AUA (GBPbillion)         September    December     March      June    September 
                                2019        2019      2020      2020         2020 
 
 Opening AUA                    32.8        33.8      35.2      31.4         35.2 
-----------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 Underlying inflows(1)           0.9         0.8       1.2       0.8          0.8 
 Outflows(2)                   (0.4)       (0.4)     (0.5)     (0.3)        (0.4) 
-----------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 Underlying net 
  inflows                        0.5         0.4       0.7       0.5          0.4 
-----------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 DB inflows(3)                   0.2         0.2       0.2       0.2          0.2 
 
 Total net inflows               0.7         0.6       0.9       0.7          0.6 
-----------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 Market and other 
  movements(4)                   0.3         0.8     (4.7)       3.1          0.5 
 Closing AUA                    33.8        35.2      31.4      35.2         36.3 
                         -----------  ----------  --------  -------- 
 
 Customers                    98,056     100,170   103,974   106,335      108,911 
 
 
 D2C Platform             Qtr to      Qtr to    Qtr to    Qtr to       Qtr to 
                              30          31        31        30           30 
  AUA (GBPbillion)     September    December     March      June    September 

                            2019        2019      2020      2020         2020 
 
 Opening AUA                10.6        11.1      12.0      10.6         12.5 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 Inflows(1)                  0.5         0.5       0.9       1.0          0.6 
 Outflows(2)               (0.2)       (0.2)     (0.2)     (0.2)        (0.3) 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 Net inflows                 0.3         0.3       0.7       0.8          0.3 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 Market and other 
  movements(4)               0.2         0.6     (2.1)       1.1          0.6 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 Closing AUA                11.1        12.0      10.6      12.5         13.4 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  --------  ----------- 
 
 Customers               120,113     127,032   144,100   162,109      172,183 
 
 
 Non-platform             Qtr to      Qtr to    Qtr to   Qtr to       Qtr to 
                              30          31        31       30           30 
  AUA (GBPbillion)     September    December     March     June    September 
                            2019        2019      2020     2020         2020 
 
 Opening AUA                 7.3         7.4       7.5      6.3          6.6 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 
 Inflows(1)                    -           -         -        -          0.1 
 Outflows(2)               (0.1)       (0.1)     (0.3)    (0.3)        (0.1) 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 Net outflows              (0.1)       (0.1)     (0.3)    (0.3)            - 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 
 Market and other 
  movements(4)               0.2         0.2     (0.9)      0.6          0.2 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 Closing AUA                 7.4         7.5       6.3      6.6          6.8 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 
 Customers                13,897      13,950    14,105   14,175       14,211 
 
 Total closing 
  AUA                       52.3        54.7      48.3     54.3         56.5 
-------------------  -----------  ----------  --------  -------  ----------- 
 

(1) Includes transfers-in, subscriptions, contributions and tax relief, excluding inflows from DB pension transfers

(2) Includes (transfers-out, cash withdrawals, benefits and tax payments)

(3) Inflows to the advised platform from defined benefit pension transfers. It is anticipated that this figure will not be shown separately in future updates

(4) Includes (charges, taxes deducted, investment returns and revaluations)

About AJ Bell:

Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK.

We operate in both the advised and direct-to-consumer segments of the platform market and our flagship platform propositions are AJ Bell Investcentre (adviser) and AJ Bell Youinvest (direct-to-consumer).

We offer SIPPs, ISAs and General Investment / Dealing Accounts which provide access to a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and our own range of AJ Bell funds. We also offer a Cash savings hub which provides access to a range of competitive savings accounts to help people manage their cash savings.

We aim to make it easy for our customers to save and invest by providing them with online tools and information to help them build and manage their portfolios.

AJ Bell is headquartered in Manchester, UK.

Forward-looking statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results and developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These forward-looking statements are statements regarding AJ Bell's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, its results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth, strategies and the industry in which it operates. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement and AJ Bell does not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement.

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October 22, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)