Hargreaves Lansdown AUM fall 9%

13th Oct 2011 07:06

Assets under administration at Hargreaves Lansdown fell to £2.1bn from £2.3bn in the quarter ended 30 September 2011 as stock markets tumbled.The wealth management stockbroking firm said first-quarter operating revenue rose 27% to £57.2m while the FTSE All Share index fell 14% during the same period.Chief executive Ian Gorham said the group had experienced a pleasing start to the year given challenging economic and market conditions for retail investors."The first quarter is traditionally our quietest period and tends to not be a strong indicator of the company's annual performance," he said.Business in September fell year on year as market volatility and uncertainty over the macro-economic environment appeared to make investors less inclined to act, Hargreaves explained. Client numbers rose by 8,000 in the quarter to 388,000 while net new business inflows rose 24% to assets of £0.68bn from the same quarter in 2010 despite falling markets. Gorham added, "Net new business, revenues and client acquisition all show a healthy increase on the same period in 2010 despite the FTSE All Share index decreasing by 14% in the period and the investing landscape being dogged by volatility and macro-economic uncertainty. By comparison, the same quarter last year saw a 12.7% increase in the same index." ---cj