Year of growth delivers profit surge for Salford-based AJ Bell

Investment business AJ Bell has seen its annual profits surge 29%.

The Greater Manchester-headquartered firm has this morning (December 15) announced a pre-tax profit of £21.7m for the 12 months to September 30 2017, up from £16.8m the year previous.

Revenues grew 17% to £75.6m, while assets under administration rose by 25% to £39.8bn – a figure attributed to £6.4bn of new business secured during the year.

The company, which provides online pension, investment and stockbroking services, also increased its client pool by 17% to 164,557 retail customers.

AJ Bell employs almost 700 people, most of whom work at the company’s new Exchange Quay headquarters.

Last month, the firm announced plans to bring a further 100 jobs to the site by relocating its stockbroking services from Tunbridge Wells.

AJ Bell chief exec Andy Bell said: “We are pleased to report another year of strong growth for the business, both in terms of the number of customers using our investment platform and our financial performance.

“To support that growth, we moved into our new head office in Salford Quays during the year and we are in the process of making that the main hub for all our core operations.”

He added: “As we go through that process in 2018 we will be recruiting locally to continue building a highly-skilled workforce who can help us achieve our vision of being the easiest investment platform to use in the UK.”