Hargreaves battles 'industry-wide slowdown in retail flows'
Hargreaves Lansdown reported an uncertain market environment and weak investor sentiment in the three months since the start of July, with assets under administration growing 2.7%.
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Hargreaves Lansdown
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In what was the first quarter of its financial year, the investment and pensions platform won £1.3bn of net new business, down 16% compared to the same period last year.
Along with £1.2bn of market gains, this lifted AuA to £94.1bn from the £91.6bn at the end of its past financial year. For the full year the market expects the FTSE 100 company to add £8.2bn of net flows.
This combined to to drive net revenue for the period to £120.8m, up 16% on the same quarter last year and representing almost 24% of the average analyst's full year forecast for £505m.
It was a "solid start", said chief executive Chris Hill, with 29,000 new clients welcomed, to lift client numbers to 1.12m by the end of September.
"The past quarter has seen an uncertain market environment and weak investor sentiment resulting in an industry-wide slowdown in net retail flows. Despite this backdrop, we believe the strength of our business model positions us well for when sentiment improves."
He said new business was driven by continued investment in digital marketing, new clients and "ongoing wealth consolidation onto our platform".
There were £100m worth of cash on its new Active Savings 'marketplace' service, where clients can monitor and move cash between the best-value savings accounts offered on the high street, with three more banks added to the service during the period.
Shares in Hargreaves hit an all-time high late last month, having overcome wobbles in the summer when the Financial Conduct Authority said investment platforms may lose the right to charge exit fees in order to ease customer switching.
The regulator found that many consumers, some of which were not aware of fees charged, would benefit from a switch but found it difficult and time-consuming to do so.
The shares have since fallen 14% from the 2,280p high and on Thursday dropped further in early trading, falling almost 4% to 1,872p.