AJ Bell PLC (LON:AJB) has announced its first dividend since listing, which will put a few extra quid into the pocket of its already well-heeled founder.
Andrew Bell, who co-founded the investment platform back in 1995, trousered just over £18mln when his company floated in December after selling 11.34mln shares at 160p apiece.
But AJ Bell shares have surged since then, and find themselves comfortably above 400p today, valuing his remaining 25.5% stake at just shy of £450mln.
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The 53-year-old’s net worth has now been given another boost after the FTSE 250 group announced it will pay an interim dividend of 1.5p.
Given that he still owns 103.73mln shares, Bell stands to receive around £1.6mln when the divi is paid out at the end of June. That’s on top of the £2.3mln pay-out he pocketed a few weeks before AJ Bell floated.
After graduating with a first in maths from Nottingham University, Bell went to the US for three years to coach football.
Upon his return, he started working for a small actuarial consultancy in Bolton.
It was after that he took out a £10,000 personal loan and launched AJ Bell with his friend Nicholas Littlefair, with the pair even building their own software.
Twenty-four years since taking the plunge and starting his own business, Bell is now at the helm of a £1.7bn company. Not bad for a working-class lad from St Helens.