UK direct-to-investor investment and online trading firm Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL) today published a trading update for the early months of H2 2021.

The Group noted that trading in January had been similar to previous lockdown periods with strong dealing volumes, significant engagement from clients and robust net new business and net new client numbers. Hargreaves Lansdown has continued to see elevated volumes of share dealing since the end of January with an increased proportion of these directed towards international equities, driven by interest in US stocks from existing clients.

As a result, the Group now expects Profit Before Tax for the financial year ending 30 June 2021 to be modestly above the top end of analyst expectations. Let’s note that the current range of company-collected analyst expectations for FY 2021 Profit Before Tax are £334 million to £360 million.

Let’s recall that, for the six months to end-December 2020, Hargreaves Lansdown saw revenue increase 16% from a year earlier to £299.5 million (H1 2020: £257.9m), driven by higher average asset levels and higher share dealing volumes.

During H1 2021, the Group grew profit before tax by 10% to £188.4 million (H1 2020: £171.1m).

Diluted EPS increased by 9% from 29.3 pence to 32.1 pence, reflecting the Group’s positive trading performance. The Group’s basic EPS was 32.1 pence, compared with 29.3 pence in H1 2020.