Hargreaves Lansdown enjoys record quarter

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 04:14 EST, 16 April 2010

Investment broker Hargreaves Lansdown today said it enjoyed its best-ever quarter in the first three months of the year with 'unprecedented' business volumes, as savers rushed to snap up tax-efficient investment vehicles.

The Bristol-based group said fear of higher taxes and record low interest rates had made investors seek high-yield, tax efficient investments. The broker revealed that the total number of assets under administration rose 12.8 per cent in the first quarter to £17.6bn - up from £15.6bn at the end of December.

The firm also said it enjoyed record business volumes in the run-up to the ISA deadline, fielding thousands of calls and opening its last account at two minutes to midnight on April 5.

Assets held in its Vantage fund 'supermarket' for private investors rose more than 13 per cent to £16.3bn in the three months to March 31, with revenues up by more than a quarter compared to the same period last year.

The firm said its strong recent performance was helped by its 'brave call' that stock markets would rise in the first three months of 2010, and came despite 'pension legislation so complicated and incomprehensible that it left investors bemused'.

Unveiling the strong figures, chief executive Peter Hargreaves said that the upcoming General Election would provide a further boost to the group’s business.

'The result and the victor's response to the deficit will have material effects on our economy, sterling and the stock market,' he said. 

Shares in the company surged this morning on the back of the impressive results, climbing 3.97 per cent to hit 376.90p.