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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Jon Robinson

Shares in AJ Bell 'undervalued' after revenue and profits surge revealed

Shares in AJ Bell have been described as "materially undervalued" by analysts after the company revealed its half-year results.

The Salford-headquartered business has posted a revenue of £103.6m for the six months to the end of March 2023, up from £75.5m, while its pre-tax profits went from £26.1m to £41.9m.

Off the back of the results, experts at Panmure Gordon have urged investors to snap up shares in AJ Bell.

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Chief executive Michael Summersgill said: "Our first-half results announced today demonstrate the strength of our business model and how our diversified revenue streams enable us to perform well in a range of different market conditions.

"Revenue increased 37% to £103.6m and profit before tax rose 61% to £41.9m which means we can continue to invest in our customer offering, our people and our brand, whilst simultaneously increasing our interim dividend to shareholders.

"We continue to focus intently on our customer proposition and service offering, which has ensured we continue to welcome new customers to our platform and retain existing ones.

"This helped generate strong net inflows of £2bn during a period of challenging market conditions, which contributed to platform assets under administration increasing to £68.6bn.

"The strength of our pension offering ensures we are in a good position to benefit from the removal of the pension lifetime allowance charge and increases to pension annual allowances in April.

"We have campaigned for pension simplification for many years and believe these welcome changes will give customers the freedom to invest more in their pensions without having to worry about tax penalties as their investments grow over time.

"We have recently called for similarly bold action from the government in the ISA market in order to further simplify investing for consumers.

"At their core ISAs are a simple, tax-efficient savings account but the multiple versions that now exist make it hard for people to know which one is right for them.

"We believe there only needs to be one ISA that condenses the multiple variants back into a single product that is easy to understand and more likely to encourage investment.

"Our dual-channel platform and range of low-cost investment solutions help people take control of their investments, whether they do that on their own or with the help of a financial adviser.

"This breadth of offering, combined with high service standards and competitive charges, positions us well to continue attracting new customers and assets to our platform and further increase our market share."

Shares in AJ Bell closed on Wednesday, May 24, at 313p giving the company a market capitalisation of just under £1.3bn.

In a briefing note to investors, Rae Maile and Ross Luckman of Panmure Gordon said: "It is not tricky: the platform market is growing faster than financial services and AJ Bell is growing faster than the platform market.

"The structural growth drivers are firmly in place, while attempts to reform pensions savings are helpful.

"The company has been investing in its brand and the benefits are increasingly being seen.

"The company says it has had a strong trading performance over the tax year end, only part of which has yet been reported.

"With structural tailwinds to the business, we think the shares are materially undervalued."

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