Full year pre-tax profits slumped by 26% to £269.2m at investment and platform provider Hargreaves Lansdown as the company was hit by economic headwinds.

Assets also fell by 9% to £123.8bn due to market falls.

The company admitted it had been a tough 12 months as markets dived and the global economic downturn hit business.

Despite the challenges the company said its number of active clients rose by 92,000 to a record 1.737m and net new business was a healthy £5.5bn.

The Bristol-based business said the “difficult backdrop in 2022” was driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical events which hit markets and dented investor confidence throughout the year. 

It saw subdued flows for many direct-to-consumer services and lower activity across wealth management as a whole. 

Due to the tough conditions HL saw a reduction in flows overall and client growth and this impacted results. 

The company said it was continuing to invest in its app, which saw 290m digital visits in 2022, and there was an increase in mobile engagement with 61.5% of digitally active clients using the app (2021: 58.3%). 

A record 882,000 clients contributed to their ISAs and pensions during the tax year and net new business per new client increased to £15,565 (2021: £13,943).

The firm has also launched the first of a new range of funds with more new funds on the way, including a new US fund launch shortly. 

The company also plans to launch a pilot for a new ‘Augmented Advice’ service at the end of H1 which will provide a digital dashboard for clients and prompts and support on clients' personal finance.

CEO Chris Hill said: “Against a macroeconomic and geopolitical climate not seen in a generation with subdued flows and lower activity across wealth management, we have delivered £5.5 billion of net new business through the year and the quality of our service attracted a further 92,000 net new clients.

“Our progress against our strategic goals has been strong since February with the launch of the first of our new funds and an acceleration in our Active Savings proposition, an essential service to help clients manage their cash savings at this critical time, leading to a record £4.6bn assets, with over 114,000 client accounts.”