AJ Bell plc

Board changes

AJ Bell plc ("AJ Bell" or "Company"), one of the UK's largest investment platforms, is pleased to announce the following changes to its Board to support the Company's future growth ambitions.

Michael Summersgill has been appointed to the newly created role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 October 2021. Michael has held the position of Chief Financial Officer since 2011 and is currently responsible for the Company's finance and operations functions. In his new role, Michael will support Chief Executive Officer Andy Bell with the development and execution of the Company's strategy to drive the future growth of AJ Bell's platform propositions.

In addition, Roger Stott has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer and will join the Board on 1 October 2021.  Roger is currently Group Finance Director and has had a broad range of responsibilities in his thirteen years at AJ Bell.  In his new role Roger will assume responsibility for the Company's operational functions, ensuring the business remains scalable and continues to deliver a great service to customers and advisers as AJ Bell continues to grow.

As a result of these changes, AJ Bell is currently conducting an external search for a new Chief Financial Officer to join the Board. A further announcement will be made when this appointment has been made.

Margaret Hassall has been appointed as a Non-executive Director and will join the Board on 1 September 2021. Margaret has a broad range of experience developed across a range of different industry sectors. Margaret has recently stepped down as a Non-executive Director of Nucleus Financial Group plc, where she chaired the Remuneration Committee, and was a Non-executive Director of OneSavings Bank plc until May 2020. During her executive career, Margaret worked as a consultant for Deloitte for 7 years, led the financial services consulting business for Charteris and previously held roles within some of the world's largest banks.

Les Platts, Chair of AJ Bell, comments:

"These changes will further strengthen the Board, both at executive and non-executive level, as the business embarks on the next phase of its long-term growth. The changes, together with the planned recruitment of a new Chief Financial Officer, will bring greater experience and diversity to the Board. This will benefit all of our stakeholders and enable the Board to continue to maintain effective oversight as the business continues to grow."

Andy Bell, Chief Executive of AJ Bell, comments:

"Our business is growing quickly and there are exciting opportunities to take advantage of in the investment platform market. It is important that we have the resources and expertise within the business to support this growth and that includes the Board.  I am as enthusiastic as I have ever been about the prospects for the business and I am looking forward to working with Michael, Roger, Margaret and the rest of the team as we embark on our next phase of growth."     

There is no other information regarding the above appointments to be disclosed under paragraph 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules.

Contacts:

AJ Bell                                 

·    Shaun Yates, Head of Investor Relations                                   +44 (0) 7522 235 898

·    Charlie Musson, Head of PR                                                        +44 (0) 7834 499 554

About AJ Bell:

Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK.

We operate in both the advised and direct-to-consumer segments of the platform market and our flagship platform propositions are AJ Bell Investcentre (adviser) and AJ Bell Youinvest (direct-to-consumer).

We offer SIPPs, ISAs and General Investment / Dealing Accounts which provide access to a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and our own range of AJ Bell funds. We also offer a Cash savings hub which provides access to a range of competitive savings accounts to help people manage their cash savings.

We aim to make it easy for our customers to save and invest by providing them with online tools and information to help them build and manage their portfolios.

AJ Bell is headquartered in Manchester, UK.