Andy Bell has welcomed the new year by cashing in £16.7m of AJ Bell shares.
The founder and chief executive of the investment platform sold 3,624,994 shares at 460p a pop, according to a regulatory filing published last Wednesday. Settlement is due to take place today.
In December 2019, Bell cashed in £23m worth of shares at a price of 400p.
Managing director Fergus Lyons, who has been at AJ Bell since 2000, is set to rake in £8.1m today after cashing in 1,755,628 shares. Collectively Bell’s and Lyons’ transactions represented 1.3% of issued share capital.
Shares in the platform closed out 2020 at 433.5p – 2% higher than they were at the start of the year when they were trading at 425.50p. During the coronavirus dip they fell as low as 246p before quickly regaining ground on the back of central bank stimulus.
AJ Bell’s full year results to the end of September 2020 showed the investment platform’s total number of customers increased by 27% during the year to 295,305. Platform AUA ended the year at £49.7bn, up 11% compared with the previous year.
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