Hargreaves Lansdown breaches company law over dividend payments

Shareholders will not have to repay company

Hargreaves Lansdown has admitted it had failed to file accounts to justify certain dividend payments at Companies House, which left the firm in breach of UK company law.

The firm said its board had "become aware of a technical issue" with respect to a number of historic dividends the company has paid out. Although Hargreaves Lansdown said it has always filed its annual accounts on time and in accordance with the requirements of the law, it admitted it had not "satisfied certain procedural requirements" before paying certain dividends in the years following its initial public offering in 2007. However, neither the founders of the company, Peter Hargreaves (pictured) and Stephen Lansdown, who each hold more than 10% of the firm's voting rights, nor othe...