Hargreaves Lansdown caps year with special

2nd Sep 2009 07:11

Stockbroker and fund manager Hargreaves Lansdown is to pay a special dividend raising its total payout by 29% as it defied volatile markets to increase revenues, profits and assets under management last year.Profit before tax for the year to June increased by 20% to £73.1m from £60.9m. Sales increased by 10% to £132.8m, while assets under administration increased from £11.1bn to £11.9bn. This included £1.4bn of assets under our own management, Hargreaves said. A final ordinary dividend of 4.229p per share increases the total for the year to 7.294p, but also proposed is a special dividend of 2.807p per share to make a total of 10.101p.Chief executive Peter Hargreaves did add a note of caution. 'We have no illusions that we can rest on our laurels. Markets are still nervous and we expect more turbulence. We are conscious that some revenues we have enjoyed in the past will be materially reduced. However my team have identified areas which we believe can be profitable and hopefully replace these lost revenues but market conditions will still have a major part to play,' he said. Recurring revenue - renewal commission, management fees and interest - fell slightly to 70% compared to 72% for the previous year due in part to the record volume of stockbroking deals handled during the second half of the financial year, which increased the level of transactional income. Operating profit margin increased from 48.0% to 52.5%.Chairman Stephen Lansdown also announced he is to stand down from his role for 1 December but will remain on the board as an executive director. Mike Evans will become non-executive chairman.