AJ Bell increased customer numbers by 20% during the financial year to the end of September, ahead of its decision to float on the London Stock Exchange at the end of this year.
In a trading update, the investment platform said the total number of customers using its services reached 197,912 over the period.
The firm is planning an IPO by the end of this year or early 2019.
It also increased its total assets under administration by 16%, from £39.8bn to £46.1bn.
This growth was driven by its core platform business, with assets under administration increasing 25% to £38.6bn. Platform customer numbers also increased 30% and net platform inflows were £5.9bn for the year.
Non-platform business net outflows jumped to £3.6bn, from £2.4bn last year, which AJ Bell said reflected its decision to terminate third-party administration contracts with two customers.
Still, Andy Bell, chief executive officer, said the two key structural drivers of the business, assets under administration and customer numbers, grew strongly.
“Momentum is strong across both the advised and direct-to-consumer (D2C) markets,” he said.
Bell said that AJ Bell continued to attract new business from financial advisers.
Despite falling from the peak in 2017 and first half of 2018, defined benefit (DB) pension transfers continued to contribute to new business and remained above their pre-2017 levels.
Bell said: “In the D2C market we are seeing demand from DIY investors looking for help managing their portfolios, utilising our investment content and easy to use investment solutions.
“While markets have become more volatile since the period end, our business model and market position remain fundamentally strong. We are progressing well with our plans for a main market listing on the London Stock Exchange at the end of the year or beginning of 2019.”
