Hargreaves chief executive Ian Gorham was quoted by the UK’s trade press on Wednesday as saying that the company was “eyeing up opportunities to expand overseas”, in the “next three to five years”.
However, a company spokesman later played down Gorham’s comments, noting that there “was a reason” the plan to expand internationally was not mentioned in the company’s third-quarter and nine-month interim statement, released on Wednesday morning.
In that statement, Hargreaves reported record quarterly net inflows of £1.8bn, as investors turned to equities in search of income, and record assets under administration (AUA) of £35.1bn, up 15.5% in the three months to 31 March, and 35% over the preceding 12-month period.
“For now, our focus is still on the opportunities in the UK market,” the spokesman added.
He noted that this did not mean that the international expansion was not on the drawing board at Hargreaves, but that for now, "it is not a priority".
Many observers have long wondered why Hargreaves Lansdown has never entered the international advisory market in the more than 30 years it has been in existence, given the relatively high percentage of British residents who live cross-border lives, and/or often end up moving abroad when they retire.
Technology key
According to Gorham, going “cross border” is becoming easier “as technology improves”. For Hargreaves Lansdown, this would be because a cornerstone of the business is the company’s Vantage platform, which currently holds some £33bn in client AUA, according to the just-released interim statement, or 94% of the total.
Hargreaves Lansdown was founded in 1981 by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown, and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2007. It is said to be the UK’s largest retail brokerage.
The business has made the founders and their families extremely wealthy, with Hargreaves ranked 90th on the Sunday Times Rich List last year, after having been in 65th place the year before, and Lansdown in 152nd place, after being in 90th place in 2011. This year’s list is due to be published on Sunday.
