InvestAcc revenue jumps 130% as pension assets under administration hit £10.6bn

InvestAcc Group Limited (LSE: INAC), a Carlisle-based specialist UK pension administrator providing self-invested personal pensions, small self-administered schemes and related financial services, increased first-half revenue by 130% to £13.8 million from £6.0 million. Group EBITDA surged 274% to £4.9 million, while the company moved from a £3.0 million after-tax loss in H1 2025 to a £1.5 million profit. Assets under administration increased to £10.6 billion from £5.8 billion and total SIPP and SSAS scheme volumes rose 38% to 19,251.

The scale increase reflects both strong organic performance and the AJ Bell Platinum acquisition. Organic revenue growth was 56%, while Platinum contributed £4.4 million of first-half revenue and approximately 3,300 schemes. InvestAcc also completed the remaining acquisition consideration during the period, meaning the business enters H2 without further deferred payments attached to that transaction.

How much of InvestAcc’s 130% revenue growth came from real organic expansion?

Organic revenue growth of 56% is the most important number because it demonstrates that InvestAcc did not rely entirely on acquiring AJ Bell Platinum to expand. Pension administration revenue increased from £3.1 million to £6.9 million, while treasury income jumped from £1.1 million to £5.0 million as the company implemented a broader cash-management strategy across customer assets.

Platinum contributed £4.4 million of group revenue, meaning the acquisition clearly provided a substantial part of the absolute increase. Yet even after excluding it, InvestAcc’s underlying business expanded at a rate far above most mature financial-services companies.

Scheme growth provides another useful indicator. Total SIPP and SSAS volumes rose 38%, including 14% organic growth alongside approximately 3,300 acquired schemes. That suggests InvestAcc is winning new business independently of M&A even as consolidation accelerates its scale.

SIPP Lite generated around two-thirds of new business during the half, indicating customer demand is shifting toward simpler pension products. Management expects inheritance-tax changes due from April 2027 to reinforce that trend as some customers reconsider more complex bespoke pension structures.

Why did InvestAcc’s EBITDA margin improve so dramatically?

Trading EBITDA increased 140% to £6.8 million while trading EBITDA margin rose to 48.9% from 46.7%. After group costs, overall EBITDA margin increased from 21.6% to 35.2%, showing strong operating leverage as the platform handled more assets and customers.

Treasury income played a major role. InvestAcc has built a centralised treasury capability designed to optimise interest earned across banking relationships, creating a scalable revenue stream that can grow with client cash balances. Treasury revenue increased 345% to £5.0 million during H1.

That income can be attractive because incremental treasury revenue may require less cost than adding the same amount through labour-intensive administration. However, investors should be careful about assuming current growth rates persist indefinitely because treasury earnings can be influenced by interest rates and client cash levels.

Underlying operating cash flow reached £5.7 million, giving the reported EBITDA growth stronger quality than an earnings increase unsupported by cash. Platinum contributed to that improvement because H1 2026 was the first period to benefit fully from the acquisition’s cash flow.

Can InvestAcc use regulation to become a pension-industry consolidator?

Management believes the UK SIPP market remains fragmented and that rising technology, compliance and regulatory requirements will increase pressure on smaller providers. The Financial Conduct Authority’s CP26/20 consultation proposes enhanced pension scheme money and asset rules alongside additional due-diligence requirements, with final rules expected during H1 2027 and full compliance scheduled later.

Larger operators can often absorb compliance investment more efficiently because systems, legal costs and governance infrastructure are spread across more customers. That may encourage small providers or non-core pension books owned by broader financial institutions to seek buyers.

InvestAcc says it is already holding multiple discussions involving specialist providers, life companies and platforms. Management is targeting acquisitions at around five to eight times EBITDA, aiming to create returns through integration and operational efficiencies.

The Platinum integration provides evidence that InvestAcc can absorb a substantial book, but every acquisition carries execution risk. Client service scores fell during the half from 97.3% to 92.7% and retention eased to 94.7% from 96.3%, making service quality an important counterweight to the rapid-growth narrative.

Why should investors watch service quality as closely as earnings growth?

Pension administration is a trust-based business in which customers can remain on platforms for decades. Rapid acquisition-driven expansion can create processing backlogs, technology migrations and service disruption if integration moves too quickly. InvestAcc’s service-quality measure declined by 4.6 percentage points during H1, while client retention also softened modestly.

Those figures are not severe enough to overturn the financial story, but they deserve attention because a consolidator that damages service quality can eventually lose the very assets it acquires. Management is continuing to invest in technology, automation, sales and compliance, while total headcount increased 13% to 222 during the first half.

The company is also migrating Platinum SSAS customers onto its common platform following the successful consolidation of SIPP customers. Completing that technology work without further service deterioration would strengthen confidence that InvestAcc’s operating model can handle another acquisition.

What should InvestAcc investors watch next?

The strongest signals will be sustained organic scheme growth, service-quality recovery and continued cash conversion. Investors should also monitor whether treasury income remains supportive as interest-rate conditions evolve and whether management maintains acquisition discipline within its stated five-to-eight-times EBITDA range.

The investment case is increasingly one of scale. InvestAcc has more than doubled revenue, expanded assets under administration to £10.6 billion and moved decisively into profitability, while an evolving regulatory environment may create more acquisition opportunities.

That opportunity also creates the central risk. Growing too slowly could allow larger consolidators to capture attractive pension books, while growing too quickly could strain operations and service. If InvestAcc can maintain its near-49% trading EBITDA margin while restoring service metrics and integrating new books cleanly, the first-half results suggest it may be building a much larger specialist pension administrator.