Investment platform AJ Bell recorded a 33% increase in its revenue for its final results for the year, growing from £163.8m in 2022 to £218.2m.
Covering the year ended 30 September 2023, AJ Bell reported that its pre-tax profits were up 50% for the period, increasing from £58.4m last year to £87.7m now.
The DIY investment platform also saw an almost 60,000 increase in customers, now sitting at 476,532.
This combined with net inflows of £4.2bn, a decrease on the previous results which saw £5.8bn.
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Meanwhile, AJ Bell Investments, the investment hub of the firm, recorded a 68% jump in its assets under management, from £2.8bn to £4.7bn.
Michael Summersgill, chief executive officer at AJ Bell, said he was "pleased to report another year of strong financial performance for the business", which he said, "demonstrated our ability to continue to grow in different market conditions".
He said that as the company neared the half a million customers mark, it remained "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," he said.
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In a question and answer segment of the results, Summersgill was asked to reflect on the company's progress since its IPO five years ago.
The company is now a FTSE 250 firm and the CEO said that at the outset of its public listing, it sought to achieve "significant organic growth" in both the number of customers and assets under administration.
"Over this period, platform AUA has increased by 84% to £70.9bn and platform customers have risen by 160% to 476,532," Summersgill said.
"This growth has been organic and has not required shareholder capital, in fact we have paid £147.5 million in dividends since the IPO."
People Moves
The results also touched on the various senior leadership changes which have occurred in the company during the past year.
This was Fiona Clutterbuck's first annual report as chair, and in her results' statement, she said it had been a "really interesting and informative period" since taking on the role in April.
Fiona thanked outgoing chair Helena Morrissey, who announced in September last year that she would not be remaining on the board following the investment platform's failure to agree on the role for then outgoing CEO Andy Bell with the Financial Conduct Authority.
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Bell departed in October last year, but the latest results clarified that it had been agreed he would have the right to nominate a non-executive director to represent his interests on the board while he was a significant shareholder.
The agreement was finalised in July this year and as a result, Les Platts will join the board as Bell's representative director.
Platts was the former chair at AJ Bell from 2014 to 2022 and Clutterbuck formally welcomed him back to the board, noting his "in-depth knowledge of the financial services sector and AJ Bell in particular, will further enhance the experience on the Board and help us drive the future growth of the company".
AJ Bell also revealed it had filled one of its two vacant independent non-executive directors positions.
Former head of investigations for the FCA Fiona Fry will take over the outgoing Simon Turner, who has sat on the board for nine years.
Turner will step down once the handover is complete.
New auditor appointed
In a separate Stock Exchange notice, the FTSE 250 firm said it had PWC as the company's auditor for the financial year ending 30 September 2025.
Its current auditor, BDO, will complete the next audit for the year ending 30 September 2024.
