Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL. delivered a 3.1% increase in assets under administration (AuA) in the four months to the end of April as it took in £3.3bn in net new business
The accompany ended April with AuA of £88.8bn, compared to £86.1bn at the end of December as client demand to invest before the end of the tax year offset market losses of £600mln.
Net revenue for the period rose 15% to £150.6mln. In the year to date, the company generated £366.6mln in revenue, up 16% on the previous year.
Active client numbers rise
The company attracted 60,000 net new clients, taking the total number of active clients to over 1.07mln.
Hargreaves Lansdown said net new business was boosted by increased digital marketing, ongoing wealth consolidation on its platform, a continuation of transfers from a competitor platform and a small direct back book transfer from Old Mutual.
READ: Hargreaves Lansdown to be chief beneficiary of fallout from problems at Barclays, say analysts
Old Mutual has been providing retail investors with an option to transfer their holdings onto Hargreaves Lansdown investment service after deciding to stop offering Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) and investment accounts.
"Hargreaves Lansdown had another good tax year end, delivering strong net new business of £3.3bn over the busiest time of our year and welcoming another 60,000 net new clients,” said Hargreaves Lansdown chief executive Chris Hill.
“We have continued to invest in our helpdesk, operations and technology teams and I’m pleased that the consequence of this is that we are able to support stronger volumes of client activity.”
Shares rose 1.01% to 1,894p in afternoon trading.
Numis raises target price
Numis said revenues and AuA were ahead of its estimates, prompting it to upgrade its estimates for this year and next.
The broker raised its pre-tax profit forecast for this year by 2.2% to £298.8mln from £292.3mln and for next year by 6.5% to £340.4mln from £319.7mln.
"These forecast increases take into account the increased level of investment into the helpdesk, operations and technology teams, as well as digital marketing. As a consequence of our forecast upgrades, our target price increases to 1,861p from 1,655p," Numis said, leaving its rating at 'hold'.