http://bit.ly/qoARBA Business cards have arrived

My first batch of business cards baring the logo Zach did for me have arrived, and in plenty of time for reboot.
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The founders of Hargreaves
Lansdown are in line for a windfall
of almost £50million after the retail
investment broker managed to
buck the recent turbulence on
financial markets.
Despite the savage downturn on
the stock exchange, the wealth
manager said it has been signing
up more new customers since the
end of June than it achieved in
the same period last summer.
Inflows of new cash are running
30 per cent ahead of last year as investors
brave the treacherous equity
markets, said the company, which
makes its money from dealing fees
and other commissions.


Flourishing: Company bosses continue to pocket millions despite the stock market turmoil

Its reassuring comments sent
shares in Hargreaves Lansdown
soaring 76.5p or 18pc to 508.5p –
their biggest rise in three years.

After profits leapt to £126million in the
year to the end of June, the group
lifted its total dividend for the
period from 11.88p to 18.87p, including
a special pay-out of 5.96p.

This will trigger bonanzas of
£28.9million and £17.9million for founders
Peter Hargreaves and Stephen
Lansdown, who own stakes of
32 per cent and 20 per cent in the company.
 



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Other City bigwigs such as
Michael Spencer at Icap and
Admiral chief Henry Engelhardt
have also enjoyed huge dividend
pay-outs.

Hargreaves, who started the
business in his spare bedroom 30
years ago, said the board had
decided to ramp up the dividend
as it had no intention of ‘doing
anything silly like making an
acquisition’. He added: ‘We may
return (our profits) to shareholders
– it’s better than having it sitting
around.’

His clients, too, had been anxious
to put their spare capital to
work rather than leave it earning
a paltry return at the bank.

Hargreaves told the Daily Mail:
‘It looks as though rates won’t go
up for some considerable time
and people are looking at the
income they can get by investing
in equities. They can get great
compensation for the volatility in
the market.’ Investors have been
busy seeking out bargains since
the market ‘fell off a cliff’ in late
July, with a lot of clients ‘bottom
fishing’, he added.

Despite yesterday’s rally, the
Hargreaves Lansdown share price
is down 15 per cent from a month ago on
concerns over a possible ban on
lucrative commissions it receives
from fund management firms.

Last month the City watchdog
announced proposals to outlay
the opaque fees paid by the big
investment groups to brokers
that promote their products, such
as Hargreaves Lansdown.

Such income accounts for 25 per cent of the company’s entire turnover.

Hargreaves said that if the proposals
come into force many of
the firm’s customers could be hit
with more ‘explicit charges’.

If the Financial Services Authority
does come down hard but
chooses to leave other corners of
the fund industry untouched, the
competitive playing field would
be like the ‘north face of the
Eiger’, said Hargreaves.