When Chris Hill became chief executive of Hargreaves Lansdown in February, he probably didn’t expect, in a few months, to have to tell investors that, for the first time since the 2007 float, they would not be paid a special dividend. The company softened the blow this month by releasing figures for its financial year to the end of June that showed continued growth in customer numbers and funds under management — an “asset-gathering monster” is how one analyst describes the company.
Because of its strong cashflow, Hargreaves has tended to pay 65 per cent of attributable profits as ordinary dividends and then top this proportion up to 90 per cent or beyond by means of a special payment. There is nothing sinister in its