Platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell has reported strong growth in revenue and profits in its results for the year ended 30 September published today.

Revenue rose 33% to £218.2m (FY22: £163.8m) and profit before tax was up 50% to £87.7m (FY22: £58.4m).

A final dividend of 7.25 pence per share has been proposed, increasing the total ordinary dividend for the year by 46% to 10.75 pence per share (FY22: 7.37 pence per share) - the 19th consecutive year of ordinary dividend growth.

The firm said that the platform business had a successful year, with customer numbers increasing by 50,880 to 476,532 and platform net inflows of £4.2 billion (FY22: £5.8 billion)

The firm reported record assets under administration (AUA) of £70.9 billion (FY22: £64.1 billion), up 11% and driven by net inflows and favourable market movements of £2.6 billion.

AJ Bell Investments saw record net inflows in the year of £1.65 billion, up 57% compared to the prior year (FY22: £1.05 billion underlying net inflows). Assets under management of £4.7 billion, were up 68% in the year (FY22: £2.8 billion).

AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said:” I am pleased to report another year of strong financial performance for the business which has demonstrated our ability to continue to grow in different market conditions.

“Revenue increased 33% to £218.2 million, enabling us to reinvest in our customer proposition and our people, whilst delivering a record profit before tax of £87.7 million which supports an increased dividend for shareholders.

"We added over 50,000 customers to the platform in the year, reflecting the quality and value of our propositions, as well as increased investment in our brand. The growth in customers enabled us to deliver over £4 billion of net inflows, an excellent result which again highlights the benefit of operating our dual-channel platform.

"As we approach half a million platform customers, we remain focused on providing a great value proposition, with a philosophy of sharing our scale benefits with customers. Having reduced several fees across the platform in 2022, this year we have increased the interest rates paid to customers several times and will soon be increasing them further, with a particular focus on pension drawdown where there is a customer need to hold cash to fund income payments.”

In the adviser market the company has invested in new functionality to help advisers manage client portfolios and next year will roll out a new client onboarding process which will “streamline” the new business process for advisers. The firm has also recently added a money market portfolio to its MPS range.