Online investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown saw pre-tax profits dip by 3% over the past year but reported clients numbers surging by 233,000 to a record 1.645m.

The Bristol-based firm saw net new business of £8.7bn (£7.7bn in 2020) with Assets Under Administration up 30% to £135.5bn.

Despite the strong growth, pre-tax profit fell by 3% to £366m as the firm invested more to keep up with growth and faced a higher corporation tax bill.

The firm saw a leap in new clients over the year as a new generation of investors emerged, with 83% of new clients under 55.

Underlying profit was up 8% but the firm's effective rate of corporation tax rate increased to 19.1% (2020: 17.2%).

Underlying profit before tax excluded a one-off gain of £38.8m from the sale of Funds Library.

Revenue was up 15% to £631m (£550.9m last year), according to 12 month results for the group out today.

Operating costs were up 24% to £266m (2020: £214.9m) due to "significantly higher client activity levels" and to maintain client service and investment in growth opportunities.

Business volumes boomed as locked-down investors decided to invest spare cash, with 83% growth in usage of the HL App. Since the Coronavirus restrictions have eased volumes have eased, the firm said, but prospects for the coming year look promising.

HL says the trend towards younger investors has continued. In 2007, HL’s client median age was 58, by 2014 it was 54, and in 2021 it is 46. Over the past 12 months nearly half the clients joining the platform were in the 30-54 age bracket. 

The firm has invested more in its tech following high levels of volume last November and market volatility which led to a system outage. 

CEO Chris Hill said the performance of the group over the past 12 months showed, “exceptional growth during an extraordinary and challenging year.”

He said: “The pandemic has accelerated two trends that were already evident to us: a permanent shift to digital and a change in the demographic mix. 

“Demand for our digital services has soared with 393m digital visits and 98% of trades being done online. In Full Year 2021, 83% of our new clients were under 55, as we saw younger clients showing an interest investing and saving, prioritising financial resilience as they benefit from the transition of wealth from older generations. Staff numbers in 2021 increased by 11% to 1,776 people.

He paid tribute to the hard work of colleagues in responding to the pandemic and said the firm had not furloughed any staff or made any redundant. No government assistance had been sought.

Hinting at a potential move into protection, Mr Hill said the firm planned to help clients’ ‘resilience’ and will launch a new Savings and Resilience Barometer in January, as a regular tracker of the “nation's progress on resilience.”

Ordinary dividend per share was up 3% to 38.5p but total dividend per share for the year was down 8% to 50.5p.

• Editor's Note: Story updated 10.50 am 09.08.21 to add more financial detail.