MARKET REPORT: Hargreaves Lansdown shares up on investment boom

Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown was the biggest blue-chip riser following a positive performance during the most important period of its financial year.

It said new customers invested £1.7billion in the three months to the end of June – 6 per cent higher than the previous quarter.

That was also ahead of the £1.4billion analysts had pencilled in.

The period fell within the end of the tax year on April 5, when clients tend to use up their ISA and SIPP allowances.

Customers also poured £800million into their active savings accounts, up on £700million the year before.

Shares up: Hargreaves Lansdown said new customers invested £1.7bn in the three months to the end of June – 6% higher than the previous quarter

And assets under administration of £134billion were 2 per cent above the previous quarter and broadly in line with market forecasts.

It added 13,000 new clients, as it had in the previous quarter.

Shore Capital analyst Ben Williams said: ‘We continue to see Hargreaves Lansdown as a cheap share, with the nature of the new client experience, and of the quantum of cost savings planned being misunderstood by the market.’

The results came just days after the investment platform began its search for a chairman to succeed Deanna Oppenheimer. 

She was criticised by co-founder Peter Hargreaves, who described her five-year tenure as a ‘disaster’.

It rose 8.8 per cent, or 73.8p, to 914p.

A sea of green swept through the stock market as the FTSE 100 rose 1.8 per cent, or 134.51 points, to 7588.20. 

Stock Watch – Cohort

Cohort rose 9.5%, or 42.5p, to 488p after record results driven by a rise in defence spending amid the Ukraine war and tensions over China.

The group is behind six companies in the UK, Germany and Portugal that make submarine sonar and naval communication systems for defence and security customers.

Revenue at Cohort, which works with the Ministry of Defence in the UK, surged 33% to £182.7million in the year to the end of April, and profit rose 23 per cent to £19.1million.

The gains came as figures showed UK inflation fell more than expected last month, sparking hopes interest rates may not rise as far as feared.

That helped the FTSE 250, which is more exposed to the UK economy, add 3.8 per cent, or 704.30 points, to 19,322.52 and clock up its best session since November last year.

Despite a rally in the wider sector, there was little to cheer at Watkin Jones as the housing developer crashed to a record low following a profit warning and the departure of its boss.

The group said there was a ‘greater degree of risk’ over its business because ‘market conditions have become more challenging’ amid rising interest rates.

The news came as its boss Richard Simpson, who took over in January 2019, decided to step down, to be replaced on an interim basis by the chief investment officer Alex Pease.

Shares, which floated at 100p in March 2016, plunged 39.5 per cent, or 30.5p, to 46.7p.

Aston Martin landed its second broker upgrade this week after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the luxury car maker’s stock to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and hiked the target price to 413p from 212p.

The investment bank said Aston’s ‘new products pave the way for a turnaround in fortunes’.

Goldman expects it to ‘unveil one new core model every quarter’ through to the end of 2024, which should lift its average selling prices and profit.

It followed Barclays’ approval on Monday when it retained its ‘overweight’ rating on the stock and increased the target price to 375p from 300p. Shares gained 9 per cent, or 29.6p, to 360.4p.

Gooch & Housego, which makes parts for customers in the industrial, aerospace and life science markets, has agreed to buy a one of its suppliers.

It will snap up Artemis, a thin-film optical coatings company, in a deal worth up to £8.9million. Shares fell 1.8 per cent, or 11p, to 589p.

Aviva rose 1.8 per cent, or 7p, to 396.6p after the insurer said it expected to make around £700million profit for the first half of 2023.

That would be more than the £661million it made in the same six months last year. And full-year profit is estimated to increase by 5 to 7 per cent year-on-year.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk