HL’S INVESTMENT CASE
Hargreaves Lansdown has a history of innovation and market leadership combined with the scale, vision and execution plan to drive momentum for future growth.
Our client-focused culture and strategy enables us to build relationships with clients over their lifetimes as they grow and consolidate their wealth with us.
Leading track record
With more than 40 years’ experience, we are the UK’s largest direct-to-consumer (D2C) savings and investment provider1.
We help over 1.88 million clients with a proposition that supports a broad range of saving and investing needs. This includes a full suite of tax-efficient accounts, over 14,000 investment options, and Active Savings, which provides a home for cash savings.
Over 60% of the UK’s D2C platform clients choose HL as their main savings and investment provider2 and our client retention rate is 91.4%3.
Operating in a large and growing market
HL looks after over £155.3 billion of clients’ savings and investments but our addressable market in the UK is worth around £3.4 trillion today and expected to grow to £3.7 trillion by 2026.4.
Growth in the UK pension market is a key driver of overall market growth, as the responsibility for retirement continues to shift from the State to employers and individuals. But it’s the need for clients to be able to manage their savings and investments digitally, through easy-to-use platforms with good client experience that’s driving overall market growth and why the UK platform market continues to attract an increasing share of client assets.
It’s an attractive market to operate in but there is a compelling client need too. HL’s Savings and Resilience barometer shows that only 17.8% of households are on track for a ‘comfortable’ retirement5 and, according to the FCA, one-third of the UK have less than £1,000 worth of savings6.
Everyone should be encouraged to build a financially secure future and, as we expand our range of products, we open up this market and provide a single home for all saving and investment needs.
With an estimated £3.7 trillion addressable market to go after, as the market leader, HL is well positioned to make the most of this growing opportunity.
Investing in future growth
We are investing to build a state-of-the-art client experience, combining the best of digital and human capabilities, delivered through an efficient and scalable platform.
Through our focused strategic investment, we are:
- Driving growth through our proposition, delivering a broader, more integrated and personalised range of products and services for our clients.
- Evolving our business to ensure it is efficient and scalable for the long term, combining the best of human expertise and automation to deliver at scale.
- Modernising our technology estate and organisational structure, to enable innovation at pace and ensure we can meet client needs as they evolve.
Strong financial position
Our operating model is resilient, with disciplined financial management supporting a robust balance sheet and financial position.
- Our revenue streams are diversified, with 81% ongoing in nature and high client and asset retention rates of 91.4% and 88.5% respectively7.
- We are highly cash generative, have a strong balance sheet, no debt, retain a surplus of capital over and above our regulatory requirement and have a track record of ordinary dividend growth.
- HL’s capital management framework sets out our approach to delivering sustainable and attractive shareholder returns over time. You can read more about this here.
1 Platforum D2C Market Update July 2024
2 Boring Money 2023
3 HL Client Retention FY24 as of 30 June 2024
4 HL AUA as of 30 June 2024 and HL estimates.
5 HL Savings and Resilience barometer (July 2024).
6 FCA 34% of UK adults have less than a £1,000 in their savings, corresponding figure for 18-24 year olds at 47%.
7 HL Client and Asset Retention FY23 as of June 2024.