Billionaire Brexit donor loses £400m in the stock market meltdown since the vote but insists: 'I have NO regrets' 

  • Peter Hargreaves revealed he has lost around £400million on stock market
  • Billionaire, a major donor to Brexit campaign, has had his shares plummet
  • He has been affected by the stock market meltdown since referendum vote
  • But founder of financial firm Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'I have no regrets'

By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline

Published: 07:35 EST, 28 June 2016 | Updated: 15:26 EST, 28 June 2016

A billionaire who was a major donor to the Brexit campaign reveals he has lost around £400million in the stock market meltdown since the referendum but insists: ‘I have no regrets'. 

Peter Hargreaves, the founder of financial advice firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the shares he owns plummeted in value following last Thursday's vote to leave the EU.

He was the biggest individual donor to the Leave campaign having given £3.2million to the cause.

'No regrets': Peter Hargreaves (pictured), a billionaire who was a major donor to the Brexit campaign reveals he has lost around £400million in the stock market meltdown since the referendum but said: 'I have no regrets'

'No regrets': Peter Hargreaves (pictured), a billionaire who was a major donor to the Brexit campaign reveals he has lost around £400million in the stock market meltdown since the referendum but said: 'I have no regrets'

But since the outcome was announced Mr Hargreaves has seen the value of his FTSE-100 listed company Hargreaves Lansdown fall by 24 per cent, according to The Guardian.

Despite that, he bullishly insisted: 'I didn’t do this for personal gain. I thought it would first and foremost be good for Britain.'

The billionaire is now retired and no longer an executive of Hargreaves Lansdown but still owns 30 per cent of its shares.

A slump in price from £13.89 to £10.56 in the days since last Thursday's vote has wiped off more than £400million from Mr Hargreaves' £2billion holding.

'The shares have suffered a fallout just as everything else has. Hargreaves Lansdown has fallen quite a lot,' Mr Hargreaves said, before also welcoming the fall in sterling. It has hit a 31-year low against the dollar.

Stock market meltdown: Mr Hargreaves, the founder of financial advice firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the shares he owns plummeted in value following last Thursday's vote to leave the EU (pictured)

Stock market meltdown: Mr Hargreaves, the founder of financial advice firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the shares he owns plummeted in value following last Thursday's vote to leave the EU (pictured)

THE BILLIONAIRE BREXIT BACKER

The Brexit campaign's donor Peter Hargreaves

The Brexit campaign's donor Peter Hargreaves

One of the country’s most successful self-made businessmen, Peter Hargreaves created an empire from his spare bedroom.

Now worth more than £2bn, the plain-speaking Lancastrian’s road to riches began at the start of the 1980s after he left his job as an accountant.

He spotted a gap in the market for savers and investors. He believed that by using newsletters he could give investment fund recommendations to customers.

Hargreaves roped in Stephen Lansdown, a friend and fellow accountant who was still working at the company he left behind. After putting in £1,000 each they started to produce their first newsletters. 

The company they created, Hargreaves Lansdown, now has 783,000 customers, is worth almost £6bn and runs £59bn worth of savings, pensions and investments. It also employs more than 950 people, most of them in its Bristol HQ.

Hargreaves, who was awarded a CBE in the 2014 New Year’s Honours for services to business innovation, financial services and the city of Bristol, claims to be the only person to have founded a FTSE 100 company without borrowing a penny.

Hargreaves stepped down as chief executive in 2010, and left the board last year.

He and his wife Rosemary have been married for 30 years and have a son and a daughter.

He added: 'It will be the biggest stimulus for British business that I’ve seen since 1992. For FTSE 100 companies, many of whom make their earnings abroad, when those earnings are translated into sterling, it’s going to make them very profitable.'

Earlier this year Mr Hargreaves, one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs, urged the public to ignore the 'out of touch' elite and vote to leave this 'stifling union'.

Mr Hargreaves is a fierce critic of red tape from Brussels, which he said has stifled British firms.

But he has also dismissed warnings from Europhiles that leaving the EU will be catastrophic for trade, predicting in February that Britain would quickly secure a free trade deal.

He said: 'We are informed that a huge portion of our trade is with Europe. That wouldn't stop if we exit the EU. 

'Everyone keeps forgetting we buy more from countries in the EU than they buy from us.' 

He added: 'We are a major market for both France and Germany – look out of your window and count what proportion of cars are continental European.'

Although Mr Hargreaves is worth an estimated £2billion, he pays all his taxes in Britain and has refused to flee abroad – unlike many of his peers.

The businessman, who was awarded a CBE in the 2014 New Year’s Honours for services to business innovation, financial services and the city of Bristol, claims to be the only person to have founded a FTSE 100 company without borrowing a penny.

The company he created with partner Stephen Lansdown, Hargreaves Lansdown, now has 783,000 customers, is worth almost £6bn and runs £59bn worth of savings, pensions and investments. 

It also employs more than 950 people, most of them in its Bristol HQ.

Hargreaves stepped down as chief executive in 2010, and left the board last year.

He lives with his wife in a Georgian mansion in Somerset.

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