AJ Bell PLC (LON:AJB) has reported continued customer growth and a step up in net inflows to its investment and pension platform in the first quarter of its new financial year.
Assets under administration (AUM) ended December 2020 at £62.5bn, up 11% over the three-month period, the FTSE 250 group said, or ahead 14% on a year earlier.
This was on the back of a 6% increase in customer numbers to 312,309 in the quarter, and a 30% gain in numbers over the last 12 months as the fund supermarket has added a number of new products and services.
Total net inflows in the quarter of £1.6bn were double the level reported in the first quarter of the prior year, including £1.5bn into the platform business, of which direct-to-consumer flows were up 133% on the year to £0.7bn.
The remaining £147mln flowed into AJ Bell Investments, the fund management arm that enjoyed a successful launch wit its first ESG fund recently, up 91% compared to the first quarter a year ago to enable its AUM to break through £1bn.
In the advised market, chief executive Andy Bell said the addition of the new Retirement Investment Account to the product range “ensures we are highly competitive on service and price” and helped drive advised platform net inflows 33% year on year.