Hargreaves Lansdown PLC reports its preliminary results, having already warned that it expects annual profits to fall and that it won’t pay a special dividend.
Earlier this month, the financial services firm said it will not have sufficient regulatory capital surplus for a special dividend after assessing its requirements by the Financial Conduct Authority.
"The board has concluded it needs to retain an additional £50mln of capital and hence the group will not pay a special dividend for the financial year ended 30 June 2017," it said in a statement.
It also said it expects annual pre-tax profit of between £265mln and £266mln, compared to £218.9mln the previous year.
Assets under management are forecast to rise 28% to £79.2mln. Net business is projected to climb 15% to £6.9bn and the number of active clients rose by 118,000 to 945,000.
“At the results, the market will be more focused on management commentary around outlook for new initiatives such as the cash brokerage as well as more detail around the increased capital requirements,” suggested Daniel Garrod.
Shareholders of pawnbroker H&T GROUP PLC (LON:HAT) might have been secretly enjoying last week’s scary posturing by the US and North Korea, as investors abandoned equities and moved into gold.
A higher gold price gives a boost to H&T, though to be fair, the company has not needed it this year, with the company pleasing the market with a series of whatever the opposite to a profit warning is.
The company has recently branched into foreign exchange and investors will be looking to Tuesday’s interims to see how this venture is progressing.
Significant announcements expected
Finals: Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.)
Interims: H&T GROUP PLC (LON:HAT), Jackpotjoy PLC (LON:JPJ), Mears Group PLC (LON:MER), Marshall Motor Holdings PLC (LON:MMH), John Menzies PLC (LON:MNZ)
Economic data: UK CPI, RPI, PPI inflation; US retail sales