AJ Bell saw its share price jump by 14 per cent on Thursday after reporting better-than-expected half-year profits.
The investment platform’s share price closed at 612p after delivering positive interim results for the six months to March 31, 2026.
Revenues were up 19 per cent to £183m (HY25: £153.2m), while underlying profit before tax rose 15 per cent to £79m (HY25: £68.8m).
The company saw 12 per cent growth in customer numbers, with a record 79,000 added in the period, taking the total to 723,000.
AJ Bell returned £77.3m to shareholders in the period, consisting of the final dividend of £39m and £38.3m of share buybacks under the ongoing programme.
CEO Michael Summersgill said: “I am delighted to report an excellent set of first-half results. We delivered record customer growth, adding 79,000 customers in the period, alongside record net inflows of £4.2bn.
“This performance clearly demonstrates the delivery of our strategy, as we reinvest the benefits of our scale and operational gearing into our brand, marketing capabilities and products, driving continued market share gains.
“This strong business momentum has supported an excellent financial performance, with revenue increasing by 19 per cent to £183m and underlying profit before tax rising by 15 per cent to £79m.
“Our strong financial position enables us to continue investing for growth while also increasing returns to shareholders, demonstrated by an 11 per cent increase in the interim dividend and an additional share buyback programme of up to £15m.
“We have continually invested in our hybrid technology model, focused on delivering easy-to-use products on a scalable platform.”
Summersgill said AJ Bell was investing in AI as an enabler to develop its platform, operations and customer interactions.
He explained: “Our strategy is to deploy AI across three key opportunities; to drive operational gearing, support ongoing product development and enhance distribution routes.
“We have developed an internal GenAI platform, providing a centralised, secure and model-agnostic foundation that we are leveraging to deliver these opportunities.
“The Government’s ambition to boost retail investing is encouraging, however in both pension and ISA markets we continue to see complexity and uncertainty.
“The platform market presents significant long-term growth opportunities, and our continued business investment positions us well to capitalise on these. We remain confident in the outlook, with strong momentum continuing into the second half of the year.”