Hargreaves Lansdown reports 20% jump in pre-tax profits
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Fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown has shrugged off Brexit to continue gathering money from do-it-yourself investors.
Record levels of assets boosted profits at the FTSE 100-listed broker, which reported a 20 per cent rise in profits before tax of £131m for the half year ending December 2016.
The Bristol-based company reported net revenue of £184.8m for the period, a rise of 16 per cent from the previous half year, and also announced a ten per cent increase in its interim dividend.
Assets held on its popular Vantage investment platform have broken £70bn for the first time, with the number of new Vantage clients the company attracted over the half year increasing by 40,000 to 876,000.
Chief executive Ian Gorham said that “despite macroeconomic uncertainties impacting investor confidence” over the period – which included the UK’s vote to leave the European Union – Hargreaves had kept the “trust” of investors.
Mr Gorham added that mobile technology would be a key part of the company’s strategy going forward.
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