(Alliance News) - Hargreaves Lansdown PLC on Friday reported a slight dip in revenue as it said the "normalisation" of trends post-pandemic has been in line with its expectations.
The wealth management platform ended September 30 with assets under administration stood at GBP138.0 billion at the end of September, up 1.8% since June 30 when they stood at GBP135.5 billion and up 29% from GBP106.9 billion at the same point a year before.
The largest growth was seen in HL's Fund assets, growing to GBP67.8 billion from GBP66.6 billion over the quarter.
Bristol, England-based HL reported net new business of GBP1.3 billion in the quarter and net new clients at 23,000, slowing from the year ago's addition of 31,000, to take active client numbers to 1.7 million.
Market movements added GBP1.2 billion to the group's assets.
Revenue slipped to GBP142.2 million from GBP143.7 million a year ago. Asset-based revenue was higher, but this was more than offset by a drop in interest on client money and a reduction in share-dealing revenue.
"As anticipated share-dealing volumes have declined post Covid lockdowns and across the quarter averaged 861,000 deals per month versus 980,000 in the quarter last year and 479,000 the year before," the company said.
Nonetheless, Chief Executive Chris Hill remained confident in HL's prospects.
"Today we report a good start to our financial year, with continued growth in clients and assets in what is typically our quietest quarter. The client retention rate remains solid at 92.6% and we continue to see new clients build wealth, diversify holdings and engage with the proposition. These results are against the backdrop of an easing out of lockdown and ongoing market uncertainty and highlight the importance of a resilient business and the strength of our proposition," Hill said.
He continued: "The normalisation of revenues post pandemic is in line with our expectations and our focus, as always, remains on our clients, and their lifelong needs. We are confident that our client focused strategy, delivering the highest level of service and continuing to invest in our market leading proposition, means that we continue to be well positioned to execute against the growth opportunity ahead of us. I look forward to providing more detail with my executive team at a capital markets day in the first quarter of 2022."
Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown were down 0.1% in London on Friday morning at 1,494.50 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.)
