Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.) has hiked its half-year dividend by 6% after growth accelerated in the second quarter of its financial year.
The pensions and investment platform attracted a record 84,000 new clients in the six months to end-December, 2020, and won £3.24bn of net new business, which was up 40% year-on-year.
This new influx saw the average age of FTSE 100 company’s clientele continue to fall, with 47% of customers joining in the period being in the 30-54 age bracket and the overall average age of its client base fell to 37, having been 45 in 2012.
Assets under administration were £120.6bn at the end of December 2020, up 16% over six months and up 15% over 12.
With profit before tax rising 10% to £188.4mln, the company said it has the liquidity and capital position to execute its strategy without financial constraint and so lifted the interim dividend to 11.9p per share.
Trading in January was said to have been “similar to other lockdown periods with strong dealing volumes, significant client engagement and robust net new business and net new client numbers”.
Looking to the rest of the second half, the launch of a cash ISA at end of December is expected to help drive momentum into the busy tax year-end.
“Beyond this, things become less certain,” said Hargreaves chief executive Chris Hill in the trading statement, “but we remain committed to our client-led strategy and will continue to invest to improve and increasingly personalise the client experience and our proposition”.