Hargreaves shares tumble on business growth fears

Hargreaves Lansdown shares fell sharply in morning trading as investors looked past record profits to focus on slowing business growth.

The group reported record underlying profits of £72m in the second half of 2011 in today's update, while revenues climbed 16% to £112.9m.

However, total net business inflows fell to £1.16bn, down 13%, and by mid-morning shares were selling-off.

By 8:51am, shares were down 3.3% or 15p, to 445p, making them the top faller on the FTSE 100. Meanwhile the FTSE was up 0.3% to 5,898.5.

Hargreaves' share price has tumbled over the past year, after previously hitting a high of 646.5p before the summer market sell off.

It remains near the low point of 404.4p which it fell to last August, despite a broad recovery seen across most of the market.

Today Ian Gorham, chief executive, was upbeat, noting the group had seen strong inflows in the face of the downturn.

He said: "In spite of unfavourable conditions and lower investment values, we continued to see healthy net business inflow, only marginally down on our record previous year, and we welcomed 16,000 new clients to the Vantage service.

"In addition to delivering record revenues and profits we have improved our competitiveness, reduced charges and improved the functionality of our systems.

"Lower stockbroking fees and ISA management charges were introduced from 1 August 2011, which has led to a rise in our share of the UK stockbroking market during the period.

"We have continued to see flows of business from competitors which is an emphatic confirmation of our strong market position."