The firm said the increase in AUA was primarily driven by net inflows of new business onto its investment platforms of £6.4bn, an increase of 78% from £3.6bn the preceding year.
Profit before tax also surged by 29% to £21.7m for 2017 from £16.8m in 2016 and revenue was up 17% to £75.6m from £64.5m. Retail customers increased 17% to 164,500.
AJ Bell said it is continuing its dividend policy with a 10% increase to 28.25p a share, equating to a total shareholder pay-out of £11.6m.
Additionally, it said these figures absorbed the business cost of moving into a new head office in Manchester.
Andy Bell, chief executive at AJ Bell, said: “Huge parts of the platform market are bogged down in expensive replatforming projects which will continue to hamper them in 2018.
“We are well past that and our pace of organic growth means we have no need for acquisitions to increase our scale. Our focus is on continued investment in our existing platform to benefit advisers and customers.
“We aim for our platform to be the easiest to use and the best value in the market, underpinned by quality service and support. Our new investment solutions have been well received by advisers and we will continue to build on that next year in line with feedback from advisers.”
This news comes as AJ Bell recently appointed a chief investment officer.
