AJ Bell reported a strong second quarter, with assets under administration (AUA) climbing to a record £90.4 billion as of 31 March 2025, up 13% year-on-year and 1% quarter-on-quarter.
The company revealed in a Q2 trading update on Thursday that its platform attracted 32,000 new customers in the three-month period, ending the quarter with 593,000 platform customers, an increase of 18% over the past year.
Customer growth was said to have been driven by both the advised and direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels.
Advised customer numbers rose to 177,000, while D2C customers increased by 23% year-on-year to 416,000. The D2C platform also delivered record quarterly growth in customer numbers and net inflows.
Gross inflows across the platform rose 18% to £4 billion, compared with £3.4 billion in the same period last year. Net inflows grew 19% to £1.9 billion.
Assets under management (AUM) within AJ Bell Investments reached £7.5 billion, up 29% year-on-year. Net inflows of £0.4 billion matched the prior year’s figure.
Chief Executive Michael Summersgill said: “We continued the strong start to our financial year as our platform attracted over 30,000 new customers in the quarter and achieved net inflows of £1.9 billion to surpass £90 billion of AUA for the first time.”
Despite recent market volatility, AJ Bell noted increased D2C trading activity in early April, with more than 75% of trades being buys, totalling over £300 million in net investment. The company remains optimistic about its long-term growth prospects.