Do-it-yourself investment platform Hargreaves Landsdown has reported a jump in revenue for the three months to 31 March thanks, in part, to a higher number of UK-based investors trading internationally.
In a trading update published this morning, the investment provider said total revenue in the first quarter (the company’s fiscal third quarter) came in at £199.7m, up from £188.1m in the prior quarter.
Hargreaves Lansdown said the boost came as a result of “increased dealing volumes and higher platform revenue,” thanks to a higher level of assets under administration (AUA).
It added that share dealing volumes averaged 794,000 per month in the quarter, up from 770,000 deals in the same period last year, with “overseas deal volumes representing 23.6 per cent of total deals in the quarter”, up from 16.8 per cent in the quarter to the end of December.
At the end of the period AUA hit a record £149.7bn. Hargreaves Lansdown welcomed 34,000 net new clients in the period, up 48 per cent year-on-year. The investment platform said it had 1.86m active clients at the end of March.
Dan Olley, Hargreaves Lansdown’s new chief executive officer, said: “Our relentless focus on client service, making it easy to save and invest to ensure that we meet our clients’ needs has delivered clear results this quarter.
“We built good momentum into tax year end, and as a result have seen year-on-year increases of gross inflows and share dealing volumes in the quarter and net new business on a par with last year,” he added.
The group’s boss continued: “We welcomed 34,000 net new clients in the quarter, reflecting the increasing popularity of our newer products such as ready-made pensions, our cash ISA offerings and Active Savings.
“A record number of clients contributed to their pensions in the tax year, with the average amount subscribed up by c22 per cent and 270,000 of our clients now have an Active Savings account, resulting in Active Savings reaching the significant milestone of £10bn in AUA since the end of the quarter.”