UK's Hargreaves Lansdown wins more business as economy recovers

(Reuters) -British fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown on Friday reported 1.3 billion pounds ($1.78 billion) of net new business in the quarter ended September, after more investors poured money into its cash management services as the economy recovers.

The investment platform added 23,000 net new clients over the quarter, while assets under administration rose 2% to 138 billion pounds. Net new business rose 63%.

"The client retention rate remains solid at 92.6% and we continue to see new clients build wealth, diversify holdings and engage with the proposition," Chief Executive Officer Chris Hill said in a statement.

Hargreaves, the UK's largest direct to investor investment service, attracted a record number of new clients last year due to pandemic-driven trading, although that was accompanied by higher costs as it had to deal with the unprecedented volumes.

It also benefited from a retail frenzy as smaller investors gathered on platforms such as Reddit to rally strategies and bet against beaten-down stocks in a flurry of activity dubbed 'GameStonk'.

The normalisation of revenues post the pandemic is in line with its expectations, Hargreaves said, reporting a 1% fall to 142.2 million pounds.

($1 = 0.7312 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Krishna Chandra Eluri)