Hargreaves profits hit by switch to clean pricing

After several years of strong growth, Hargreaves Lansdown has reported a drop in pre-tax profits for the last six months of 2014 as the impact of clean pricing offset a further rise in assets.

Reporting results for the six months to 31 December 2014, the platform said pre-tax profits dropped 2%, from £104.1m to £101.9m, but it nonetheless raised its interim dividend by 4% to 7.3p per share. The platform's shares fell 5.8% to 985p in early trading, and the decline accelerated later in the day to leave shares 8% down at 961p by mid-afternoon. The stock remains well above the near-term low of 827p reached in October. Hargreaves said total net inflows for the six months stood at £2.25bn, compared with £2.8bn in the comparable period a year ago, helping push assets under adminis...