Profits soar to £400m at Hargreaves Lansdown

Profits at Bristol investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown surged by 50 per cent to over £400m last year.

The company has been under pressure from its founder Peter Hargreaves in recent years as profits and its share value slipped.

But it has bounced backed with a strong set of results for the last 12 months.

Total assets under administration were up eight per cent to £134bn driven by net new business and positive market movement.

Profit before tax increased by 50 per cent to £402.7m and underlying profit before tax increased by 47 per cent to £438.8m.

Dan Olley, chief executive, said: “We have delivered a robust financial performance for our full year in what continues to be a challenging broader economic environment.

“We welcomed a further 67,000 net new clients meaning we now support over 1.8 million with their savings and investments needs, with client retention stable at over 92 per cent. We saw notable growth into our Active Savings proposition which continues to show the benefits of our diversified business model as we give our clients access to competitive rates for their cash.

“We delivered revenue growth of 26 per cent year-on-year with cost growth within the guided range delivering a statutory profit of £402.7 million, up 50 per cent on 2022.

“As I begin my CEO tenure, it is clear to me that at its core this is a strong business with fantastic heritage that has significant potential to benefit from the structural, demographic, and regulatory shifts in the UK and the expected growth in the wealth market.

“My early focus is to ensure we are set up to capture this growth opportunity, that we have pace of execution, cost discipline as we travel on this journey, and that we are giving our people the best opportunity to deliver for our clients and shareholders.”

Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK’s largest digital wealth management service administering £134.0bn of investments for over 1.8m clients.