HL.L - Hargreaves Lansdown plc
| Previous close | 1,690.50 |
| Open | 1,666.50 |
| Bid | 1,670.50 x 0 |
| Ask | 1,671.50 x 0 |
| Day's range | 1,666.17 - 1,697.00 |
| 52-week range | 1,590.00 - 2,447.00 |
| Volume | 1,412,531 |
| Avg. volume | 2,037,790 |
| Market cap | 7.969B |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 0.88 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 30.43 |
| EPS (TTM) | 55.20 |
| Earnings date | 31 Jan 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 0.35 (2.05%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 13 Feb 2020 |
| 1y target est | 1,810.38 |
- Bloomberg
Frugal Billionaire Sells Stake in Wealth Firm He Founded
(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Peter Hargreaves has sold 550 million pounds ($711 million) of shares in Hargreaves Lansdown Plc, the online investment platform that made him a billionaire.The sale “is part of a process of long-term financial planning to diversify my assets,” 73-year-old Hargreaves said in a statement Friday. “I remain, and will continue to be, a substantial shareholder.” The offer was announced after close of trading in London Thursday.Hargreaves is one of the richest people in the U.K. with a $3.8 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Before the sale, about 90% of his net worth was tied up in the shares of his company, which was widely criticized last year for supporting disgraced money manager Neil Woodford.The disposal of a 7% stake marks a shift for the Lancashire-born businessman who hasn’t sold stock since the firm’s 2007 listing. He’s long been known for his frugal and low-key lifestyle, once asking a New York-based journalist to call him back because he didn’t want to pay the long-distance charge. He had a $4 billion fortune at the time.His profile has risen in recent years after he donated more than $4 million to the Brexit campaign. Hargreaves announced last month he would donate 100 million pounds worth of his shares to set up a foundation, one of the largest charitable acts in British history.Hargreaves now owns 24.3% of the company, according to the statement. The holding was worth about 1.9 billion pounds early Friday when the shares fell as much as 5.2% in London.Woodford WoesHargreaves Lansdown has benefited as more private investors seek to manage their own money, with its stock climbing more than 60% in the past five years. Still, its shares lagged behind peers in the second half of 2019, after the freezing of Woodford’s fund rocked the industry. The firm had included the stock picker on its favorite fund list even as other platforms dropped him.Hargreaves co-founded the company in 1981 alongside Stephen Lansdown. They started out providing information to clients on unit trusts and tax planning, and then went public in 2007. It’s since grown into a FTSE 100 company and is one of the largest fund supermarkets in the U.K.Hargreaves has already started diversifying. He provided 25 million pounds of seed capital to help form money manager Blue Whale Capital in 2017. Blue Whale has since grown its assets to 260 million pounds, according to a company spokesman.The share sale was conducted via an accelerated book build and demand saw Hargreaves increase the amount he sold to 550 million pounds from an initial 500 million pounds, according to Friday’s statement. Barclays Plc and Numis Securities Ltd. managed the sale, while Evercore Partners International acted as adviser.It’s not clear how Hargreaves intends to spend his proceeds but the keen gardener is unlikely to be eyeing up trophy assets like super yachts or planes.“We live very modestly,” he said in a 2018 interview. “I can’t see the point in going out and spending money on things you don’t want. I could afford anything. I don’t want anything. I don’t want to go out socializing every night. I’m quite happy to sit at home with my family.”(Updates with sale proceeds in 1st paragraph and other details throughout.)To contact the reporters on this story: Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net;Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke, Patrick HenryFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
Hargreaves top investor sells shares at discount; stock drops
Shares of the company opened 5.2% lower at 16.2 pounds on the London Stock Exchange, near the sale price of 16 pounds a share, taking the year-to-date losses to 15%. The stake sale represented 7.3% of Hargreaves' outstanding shares, according to Reuters calculations. "The sale of some of my shares in Hargreaves Lansdown is part of a process of long-term financial planning to diversify my assets," Hargreaves said.
- Reuters - UK Focus
FTSE 100 eases after four-day rally; Burberry slips
London's main index fell on Friday as dealers locked in profits after four straight sessions of gains amid lingering worries over the coronavirus, and as luxury brand Burberry skidded after blaming the outbreak for hurting demand. The FTSE 100, which had risen 3% this week, gave up 0.2%. Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown shed 4% after a discounted share sale by its co-founder and largest investor.
- Reuters
Co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown to sell shares
The sale will come just days after a slowdown in net new business growth overshadowed an increase in half-year profit for Hargreaves. Hargreaves Lansdown has faced a tough year after funds it backed, run by independent investment manager Neil Woodford, were suspended after a liquidity squeeze. Hargreaves Lansdown executives waived their full-year bonuses and also management fees charged to clients which were trapped in the fund.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Co-founder Peter Hargreaves to sell shares in Hargreaves Lansdown
- Fool.co.uk
Why I just bought more Hargreaves Lansdown shares
Hargreaves Lansdown's (LSE: HL) share price decline is a buying opportunity, says Edward Sheldon. The post Why I just bought more Hargreaves Lansdown shares appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Stockopedia
Downside risk to the Hargreaves Lansdown share price at 1,778p (LON:HL.)?
Momentum is sticky and persists for longer than investors tend to anticipate. The downside of this is that stocks with recent negative momentum are likely to c8230;
- Fool.co.uk
Hargreaves Lansdown share price dips on Neil Woodford fallout. Here’s what I’d do
Profits are rising at Hargreaves Lansdown, but Woodford contagion is hitting the share price. The post Hargreaves Lansdown share price dips on Neil Woodford fallout. Here's what I'd do appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Woodford collapse costs Hargreaves Lansdown £2.3m
Hargreaves Lansdown's revenue, profit, and client numbers all rose over the last six months despite the fallout from the Neil Woodford scandal.
- Reuters
Hargreaves Lansdown new asset growth slows after Woodford
A slowdown in net new business growth overshadowed an increase in half-year profits for British investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown , sending its shares lower on Friday. Hargreaves has faced a tough year after funds run by independent investment manager Neil Woodford and long championed by the company were suspended after a liquidity squeeze that ultimately sank his firm. "The financial results are good, and ahead of our and consensus expectations, but we think there are negative signs on the new business front," said Jefferies analyst Julian Roberts in a note to clients.
- Fool.co.uk
HL, AJB, IGG: which investing platform do I think makes the best investment?
Who invests in the investors? There really is value in buying the UK companies making money every time we trade, argues Tom Rodgers.The post HL, AJB, IGG: which investing platform do I think makes the best investment? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Three ways you could be stealth taxed in 2020
Although the government has promised not to raise key tax rates it doesn’t mean you won’t be paying more, finance analysts say.
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 1-Billionaire Brexit donor gives 1 million pounds to UK Conservatives
Peter Hargreaves, one of Britain's wealthiest men and the second-biggest donor to the 2016 campaign to leave the European Union, has donated 1 million pounds ($1.28 million) to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's party ahead of next week's election. Hargreaves, who amassed his fortune from co-founding fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown, said he was worried that the project he championed could be abandoned, leaving the United Kingdom stuck in the European Union. Johnson, 55, hopes to win a majority on Dec. 12 to push through the Brexit deal he struck with the EU after the bloc granted a third delay to a divorce that was originally supposed to have taken place at the end of March.
- Yahoo Finance UK
Brexit blamed as investors trapped in £2.5bn UK property fund
M&G Investments has suspended withdrawals from its Property Portfolio fund after a period of 'unusually high and sustained outflows.'
- Stockopedia
Is there downside risk to the Hargreaves Lansdown share price at 1,855p?
Momentum is sticky and persists for longer than investors tend to anticipate. The downside of this is that stocks with recent negative momentum are likely to c8230;
- Yahoo Finance UK
Hargreaves Lansdown 'learning lessons' from Woodford fiasco
CTO Chris Worle said Tuesday: 'There’s a huge amounts of work going on now really to look at all aspects and where we can learn the lessons.'
- Reuters - UK Focus
UPDATE 2-BNP Paribas takes Allfunds platform stake as fund managers cut costs
PARIS/LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - French bank BNP Paribas has obtained a 22.5% stake in wealth management platform Allfunds in the latest sign of asset managers looking to trim costs in the face of rising regulatory expenses and pressure on fees from investors. Under the deal, for which financial terms were not announced, BNP Paribas will entrust Allfunds with managing the distribution of third-party investment fund contracts for several BNP Paribas Group entities.
- The Guardian
After Woodford, where is the contrition from Hargreaves Lansdown?
We expect better than the fan-club tone of the best buy list following its hero’s costly crash and burn. What does Hargreaves Lansdown, Neil Woodford’s former cheerleader-in-chief, make of its old hero’s decision to throw in the towel? Surely this is an ideal moment for the investment platform’s chief executive, Chris Hill, to share the “learnings and improvements” that apply to his own firm. He’s been promising to reveal the fruits of this exercise almost from the moment Woodford’s flagship fund was suspended in June. There was near-silence from Bristol on Wednesday. Hargreaves relayed the latest grim updates for Woodford investors on its website, but that was all. Hill must still working on his “learnings”. This is odd, though, because Peter Hargreaves, one of the firm’s founders and still its biggest shareholder, has been clear about one lesson to be drawn. “The reality is platform buy lists, especially the Hargreaves Lansdown one, have been key to the fortunes of some fund managers,” he told FT Adviser this month. “Maybe the Woodford issue will mean people take them with a pinch of salt in future.” Well, yes, investors definitely should keep a cellar of salt handy when reading Hargreaves’ Wealth 50 report. Woodford’s Equity Income Fund retained its star status until the gates were shut, despite the platform revealing afterwards that it had been fretting since late 2017 about the number of illiquid stocks in the portfolio. But you’ll struggle to get Hill, or Hargreaves the company, to concede there’s a fundamental problem with best buy lists that blur the line between promotion and research. Instead, Hill has defended current practices, arguing that recommendations are valued by the punters and that “the shortcomings on one fund should not detract from the benefits”. Nobody, obviously, expects only winning funds to be included. But, come on, the one-dimensional fan-club tone of best buy lists is grating. Where’s the scepticism? Where are the counter views? Where’s the acknowledgement that the cult of the star fund manager, which has been hugely profitable for Hargreaves, may not be all it’s cracked up to be? Where, indeed, is the admission that Hargreaves, having prodded many clients in Woodford’s direction, had a duty to ensure governance was more robust than the cosy-looking set-up seen at the Patient Capital investment trust? One lives in hope that Hargreaves’ promised self-examination will produce something more meaningful than the early but vague apology for the “disappointment and frustration” suffered by clients. But it’s starting to look as if Hargreaves just hopes the whole Woodford thing would blow over. Regulators must not let that happen. Asos still has a way to go Good news from Asos: there have been no more self-inflicted calamities with the automated warehouses since the last episode. Full-year profits still collapsed, but only to the degree that embattled chief executive Nick Beighton had indicated in his last profits warning in July – they fell 68% to £33.1m. The share roses 28% on Wednesday. The only way is up. Well, maybe. For all the hype around Asos, the company’s stupendous investment spree – £700m spent in the past five years – has so far succeeded only in demonstrating that cheap and cheerful fashion lines are popular. Revenues last year were £2.7bn. The harder part is making decent money from global expansion and ensuring that new hubs in Atlanta and Berlin earn their keep. Asos’ operating profit margin last year was a skinny 1.3%. In the old days, meaning half a decade ago, Asos aspired to 6%-8%. It’s hard to tell if that long-term ambition remains wholly intact because Beighton has adopted a pose as a man of mystery and has abandoned the policy of offering year-ahead guidance on profits and sales. Actually, though, the new stance is probably sensible for two reasons. First, Asos’ forecasting record was reliably terrible. Second, competition has become stiffer since those long-ago days when Asos seemed to have the twentysomething fast fashion field to itself. Boohoo, with its PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal brands, has planted itself on the same patch. Meanwhile, Next’s online operation is rapidly expanding into the world of third-party brands and never seems to suffer the warehousing hiccups that have plagued Asos in the past year. Beighton says the problems at Asos have now been fixed and, if so, investors may eventually discover the answer to the profit margin riddle. The reassurance for investors is that Asos has beefed-up its cast of non-executive directors, led by chairman Adam Crozier, the former ITV chief executive, and they surely won’t tolerate an operational relapse. The prickly Beighton still has a lot of lost ground to recover.
- Reuters - UK Focus
Fallen fund star Woodford's firm suffers ignominious end
Once one of Britain's most celebrated money managers and idolised by a legion of investor devotees, the collapse of Neil Woodford's business has been swift and brutal. The 59-year-old moved quickly to call time on his eponymous asset management company late on Tuesday, hours after being sacked as manager of the firm's flagship fund by its administrator, Link Fund Solutions. The move followed four months of efforts to sell out of a number of unlisted and little traded stocks - some 20% of the fund's portfolio according to Britain's regulator - and raise cash to pay off investors irked by weak returns.
