Hargreaves Lansdown sees £1.6bn of first quarter net new business

Bristol-based wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown saw net new business of £1.6 billion in the first quarter of the year, with closing assets under administration at a record £149.7 billion.

Net new clients were up 48 per cent year on year (an extra 34,000), taking the company to 1,858,000 active clients.

Revenues for the period were up six per cent to £199.7 million.

Dan Olley, Hargreaves Lansdown's CEO, said: "On joining the business, one of the highest priorities I set was to recapture our service excellence, so I am delighted that we delivered a great service experience for our clients over tax year end despite receiving record volumes in calls and emails. We saw a significant rise in the service Net Promoter Score, up to +48 from +33.

"We built good momentum into tax year end, and as a result have seen year-on-year increases of gross inflows and share dealing volumes in the quarter and net new business on a par with last year.

"We welcomed 34,000 net new clients in the quarter, reflecting the increasing popularity of our newer products such as ready-made pensions, our cash ISA offerings and Active Savings. A record number of clients contributed to their pensions in the tax year, with the average amount subscribed up by around 22 per cent and 270,000 of our clients now have an Active Savings account, resulting in Active Savings reaching the significant milestone of £10 billion in assets under administration since the end of the quarter."

The company said that it predicts ongoing momentum for the rest of the year.