Brewin and HL boom despite market wobble

STOCK MARKETS are wobbling, but so far the nation’s investment advisers are still in the midst of a boom.

Brewin Dolphin enjoyed record fund inflows in the second quarter — it now looks after £52.6 billion.

Hargreaves Lansdown saw £46 billion of new business in the four months to April, with assets under administration up 28% for the year to £133 billion.

A new breed of investor has been drawn to shares during the pandemic, some betting on go-go stocks on phone apps, others taking a longer-term view.

Brewin says the new customers have an average age of 44, 20 years younger than their core audience.

Chief executive Robin Beer wants to lure the even younger crowd with new tech. He isn’t worried that a sudden market crash will put them off.

“We’ve seen them before,” he said. “When you have those type of market shocks people seek help and advice. Not that I would wish for a big market correction, but normally we are a beneficiary.”

Brewin’s own shares have gained over 100p in the past six months — today they were steady at 328p.

HL lured 126,000 new clients, taking the total to 1.62 million.

Chief executive Chris Hill, below, said: “This was a period of very strong growth with record net new business, record ISA subscriptions, record client growth, and record share dealing volumes, reflecting the benefits of the investment we have undertaken in recent years in our digital platform and the diversity and strength of our client proposition.”

HL shares are roughly where they were four years ago. Today they fell 101p to 1671p.