LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 investment platform AJ Bell posted a jump in pre-tax profit and revenue on Thursday in its first set of results as a listed company following the "most profitable" trading performance in its history.

In the year to the end of September, pre-tax profit rose 33% to a record £37.7m on revenue of £104.9m, up 17% on the previous year. Net assets increased to £86.1m from £64m in 2018 and the total ordinary dividend for the year was up 31% to 4.83p a share.

Analysts had been expecting pre-tax profit of £37.2m and revenue of 104m.

The number of retail customers grew 17% during the year to 232,066 and the company had a retention rate of 95.4% versus 95.1% in 2018. Assets under administration rose 13% to £52.3bn.

The group also announced the launch of a new Corporate Social Responsibility initiative "to provide the opportunity for charitable causes to share in the future success of AJ Bell".

Chief executive officer Andy Bell said: "These results are a strong endorsement of the business model and growth strategy that we outlined in the run up to our IPO a year ago. Our focus on the needs of our customers and helping them to invest has enabled us to continue to add new customers to the platform and retain existing ones.

"The structural growth drivers for investment platforms in the UK remain strong and if we continue to meet the needs of customers we are well placed to benefit from these over the coming years."

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