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UPDATE 3-Hargreaves Lansdown profit up, warns on revenues

Published 09/02/2009, 04:17 AM
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* Full-year pretax profit increase to 73.1 million pounds

* Total dividend up 29 percent to 10.10 pence

* CEO says some revenues may be "materially reduced"

* Shares down 1.6 percent

(Adds comments from chairman, analysts, share price)

By Raji Menon

LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - British investment broker Hargreaves Lansdown beat forecasts with its full-year profit on Wednesday, but warned that some future revenue streams would be "materially reduced".

The company reported a 20 percent jump in pretax profit for the year to June 30 to 73.1 million pounds ($119 million), above the average forecast of 67.5 million in a Reuters poll of six brokers. It also raised its dividend 29 percent to 10.1 pence.

"Markets are still nervous, and we expect more turbulence. We are conscious that some revenues we have enjoyed in the past will be materially reduced," Chief Executive Peter Hargreaves said in a statement.

"We remain confident that despite the gloomy economic backdrop we shall nevertheless continue to increase our market share," he said.

In an update in June the company had said it expected full-year pretax profit to be slightly ahead of the top end of market expectations of 69.1 million pounds. At the time, brokers Numis Securities and Canaccord Adams had upgraded their recommendations on the stock.

At 0809 GMT, its shares were down 1.6 percent at 244 pence. The stock price has risen steadily since mid-July when it traded below 200 pence.

Analysts at Citi welcomed the "stronger than expected" dividend payout, while broker KBC Peel Hunt said the company remained a core holding.

"Hargreaves is and will continue to be a structural growth play and represents the future of mass market wealth management," KBC said in a note.

Assets under administration increased 7 percent to 11.9 billion pounds, while revenue rose 10 percent to 132.8 million.

Hargreaves Lansdown's results come after UK wealth management firms Rathbones and St James's Place reported lower profits on the back of declining markets and falling assets under management.

NO EASY RIDE

Chairman Stephen Lansdown told Reuters the company expects interest income to decline due to falling interest rates, but that the low interest rate environment was bringing investors back to the equity markets in search of a higher yield.

"There is a little bit of confidence coming back into the system, certainly, but I wouldn't overegg it. There is a question of need rather than desire," he said.

"We are seeing a lot of activity in the stock broking division, which is a sort of bellwether of what's going on."

Lansdown warned that while investors returning to equities was a good sign, the next 12 months would remain difficult.

"The UK economy is still in a poor state; when we look at what's happening in the economy, we don't see a major pick-up in any area for quite some time to come ... We certainly don't expect an easy ride over the next year." (Reporting by Raji Menon; Editing by Joel Dimmock/Will Waterman) ($1 = 0.6126 pound)

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