PensionBee Group (LON:PBEE) reported continued growth in assets and revenue in its second-quarter 2026 trading update, with management emphasizing higher marketing investment, improved operating leverage in the U.K. and ongoing efforts to scale its U.S. retirement business.
Chief Executive Officer Romi Savova said the company ended the quarter with £8.6 billion, or approximately $11 billion, in assets under administration on behalf of 327,000 invested customers. That represented 37% year-over-year growth in assets. Annual run-rate revenue reached £56 million, up 40% year over year, while quarterly net flows grew 30%.
U.K. Business Shows Profitability and Higher Brand Awareness
In the U.K., PensionBee increased marketing spend by 34% year over year to £4.6 million during the quarter. Savova said the investment helped drive gross inflows up 34% to £463 million and supported prompted brand awareness of 62%, which she described as a record level for the company.
The company ended the quarter with 327,000 invested customers, up 14% from a year earlier. Savova said PensionBee remained committed to its long-term target of reaching 1 million invested customers in the U.K.
The U.K. business was profitable for the quarter, with Chief Financial Officer Christoph Martin reporting U.K. revenue of £14.3 million, up 42% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA of £0.8 million. On a last-12-months basis, U.K. adjusted EBITDA was close to £8 million, with a 15% margin, compared with 8% a year earlier.
Martin said the company’s U.K. operating margin before marketing reached 42%, which he said reflected the scalability and margin potential of the business.
AI Tools Support Productivity Gains
Savova said PensionBee’s technology platform continued to scale, with a 17% productivity improvement in the quarter. The company reported more than 1,700 invested customers per staff member in the U.K., representing a compound annual growth rate of 20% since 2020.
Management highlighted two artificial intelligence tools as contributors to productivity. Beatrix, described as an internal AI co-pilot, supports the company’s service function. BeeBot, the external AI bot, now independently resolves more than 50% of its live chats, Savova said.
She added that PensionBee maintained a Trustpilot rating of 4.6 stars and an invested customer retention rate above 95%.
U.S. Strategy Focuses on Direct Consumers and Intermediaries
Savova said the company advanced a dual-channel strategy in the U.S., combining a direct-to-consumer business with business-to-business distribution through intermediaries. She said the U.S. market resembles the U.K. in PensionBee’s early years, with the company focused on building brand awareness and conversion funnels.
PensionBee ran a U.S. customer testimonial campaign during the quarter and an out-of-home billboard campaign in New York and Chicago. Savova said prompted brand awareness in the U.S. was approximately 5%.
The company is also building an automatic rollover IRA offering aimed at employers, typically distributed through advisor intermediaries and third-party administrators. Savova said PensionBee has reached record keepers representing approximately 75% of the market and has engaged more than 1,500 employers.
Management said the U.S. automatic rollover IRA opportunity includes several categories of potential inflows:
- Small balance rollovers below $7,000, with an estimated $4.6 billion of annual potential inflows.
- Voluntary rollovers above $7,000, which Savova described as part of a $1 trillion annual market.
- Plan terminations, with approximately $55 billion of potential annual inflows and individual transactions reaching $250 million.
In response to an investor question noting U.S. AUA of $4.8 million across around 400 customers, Savova said most current U.S. assets and customer accounts are coming through the direct-to-consumer channel. She said the company’s $1 billion U.S. AUA objective remains a medium-term goal and that management expects 100 intermediary relationships, each delivering approximately $10 million in recurring annual inflows, to support that path.
Guidance Reiterated Through 2029 and 2034
Martin said PensionBee’s growth is driven by predictable recurring revenue from its assets under administration and the controllable nature of its cost base. He said the company’s average customer is around 42 years old and that customer retention remains above 95%, with value retention around 100%.
The company onboarded 12,000 new invested customers during the quarter. Martin said new customers were slightly older than those acquired in the second quarter of 2025, at approximately 40 years old, and brought a higher average transfer-in value.
PensionBee reported a revenue margin of 68 basis points for the quarter. Martin said this enabled the company to convert AUA growth of 37% into quarterly revenue growth of 43%.
Management reiterated its medium-term group targets for year-end 2029: revenue above £100 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 20%. By year-end 2034, the company expects revenue above £250 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 50%.
At the group level, PensionBee delivered last-12-months adjusted EBITDA of £2.7 million, representing a 5% group margin, compared with around negative 1% a year earlier. Martin said the company’s cash balance of approximately £31 million, or $41 million, leaves it in a strong position to scale the U.K. business and invest in the U.S.
Management Addresses Marketing and Profitability Questions
During the question-and-answer portion, Martin said management focuses on profitability on an annual rather than quarterly basis because marketing spend is often weighted toward the first half of the year. He said PensionBee’s 2029 guidance implies about £20 million of adjusted EBITDA on at least £100 million of revenue.
Asked whether the U.K. margin would need to exceed the group’s 2029 target to offset U.S. losses, Martin said that was a reasonable understanding. He said the U.K. is further along its growth trajectory and is expected to be at or above 20% adjusted EBITDA margin around that time, while the U.S. is expected to be around breakeven levels.
Savova also discussed the company’s Channel 4 weather sponsorship, saying it is intended to increase brand visibility through a repetitive format. She said it follows the conclusion of PensionBee’s sponsorship of Brentford and that additional sponsorship activity is in the pipeline.
On customer contributions, Savova said trends remain broadly in line with prior commentary and that contributions are more common where affordability is greater. She added that around 20% of U.S. customers are contributing, which she said supports the company’s view that consumers want simple, high-quality retirement products.
About PensionBee Group (LON:PBEE)
PensionBee is creating a global leader in the consumer retirement market with approximately £7.5 billion (approximately $10 billion) in assets on behalf of approximately 315,000 customers.
Founded in 2014, we aspire to make as many people as possible pension confident so that everyone can enjoy a happy retirement. We help our customers to combine their retirement savings into a new online account, which they can manage from the palm of their hand.
PensionBee accounts are invested by the world’s largest investment managers, collectively looking after more than $10 trillion in savings between them.
