Hargreaves Lansdown hikes dividend after record first half

5th Feb 2014 07:00

- Revenue, profit reach record highs in H1- AuA up 43 per cent, inflows surge- Dividend raised 11 per centFund manager and brokerage firm Hargreaves Lansdown hiked its interim dividend by 11 per cent after registering record revenue and profit in its first half.Revenue totalled £158.4m in the six months to December 31st, up 13% year-on-year, while pre-tax profit rose 11% to £104.1m.This was helped by a 43% increase in assets under administration (AuA) to £43.4bn compared with last year, with net business inflows up 70% at £2.8bn.The company said that most parts of the business reported record figures during the period. Client recruitment surpassed expectations with the company now having 584,000 investors as active clients, up 15% since the start of the financial year.However, of these new investors, around 27,000 have currently confined their activity exclusively to the Royal Mail float. Hargreaves expects that "many of these" will become wider investors in future."We are pleased that Hargreaves Lansdown's results once again show substantial growth in new clients, assets, revenue and profit," said Chief Executive Ian Gorham.The company lifted its interim dividend by 11% to 7p per share.Looking ahead to the second half, the company said that January delivered a "positive start".While the company's full-year results are normally second half-weighted, it said this year may turn out to be "a little unusual", given that the Royal Mail event occurred in the first half of the year."There is no doubt the second half of the year will again be key to our full-year performance."BC