Hargreaves Lansdown plc is a British

financial service Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

company based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. It sells funds and shares and related products to retail investors in the United Kingdom. The company is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The company was founded on 1 July 1981 by

Peter Hargreaves Peter Kendal Hargreaves Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 5 October 1946) is an English co-founder with Stephen Lansdown of Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial services businesses. He is a shareholder of Hargr ...

and

Stephen Lansdown Stephen Philip Lansdown CBE (born 30 August 1952) is an English-born Guernsey billionaire. He co-founded the British financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown with Peter Hargreaves. He is a founder of Bristol Sport and majority shareholder of ...

who had initially traded from a bedroom. Hargreaves Lansdown initially provided information to clients on

unit trust A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on ...

s and

tax planning Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdic ...

matters. Now, the company has grown to be one of the largest in Bristol, located at One College Square, Harbourside. The company was first listed on the

in May 2007, with the company's two founders then holding combined stakes equivalent to 80% in the business. In April 2009, Lansdown sold a stake of 4.7% for a sum of £47.2million to put towards the cost of building Bristol City FC's new football stadium, reducing his stake to 22.9%. In 2019 Hargreaves Lansdown suffered reputational damage when trading was suspended on 4 June 2019 in the Woodford Investment Management fund, which Hargreaves Lansdown had been promoting through its Wealth 50 list despite concerns about the fund's investment strategy and underperformance. On 5 October 2019, retired founder Peter Hargreaves, still the owner of 32% of Hargreaves Lansdown, was reported to say:

Operations

The HL platform enables investors to hold different types of investments together in one place with one valuation and dealing service. Available products include ISA, SIPP, and a Fund & Share dealing account. The company also operates multi-manager

s each of which in turn own a share in a number of underlying funds, as well as its own internally managed equity funds under the HL Select brand. The group also provides financial advisory, stockbroking and annuity broking services to private investors and advice to companies on group pension schemes. The company also offers a Currency Service enabling investors to access exchange rates and send money abroad. In the first quarter of 2018 Hargreaves Lansdown net revenue rose by 16% and assets under administration rose 3% over the previous quarter, despite the uncertain market environment. Hargreaves Lansdown is UK's largest direct to investor investment platform. In winter 2018 it administered £91.6 billion of investments for over 1,090,000 clients.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Companies based in Bristol Financial services companies of the United Kingdom Financial services companies established in 1981 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Investment management companies of the United Kingdom 2007 initial public offerings Online brokerages