UK asset managers racked up billions of pounds of losses in the first quarter as the stock market saw its worst falls in a decade. They have recovered since along with share prices, while also benefiting from a surge in trading by ordinary individuals stuck at home in the lockdowns.

"Post the (UK) General Election result in December 2019 and into the COVID-19 period, dealing volumes increased to record levels on our platform at a time when the average AUA was impacted by significant market falls," Hargreaves said.

The company increased its total dividend by 31% to 54.9 pence a share.

Hargreaves said it added a record 188,000 net new clients during the period, bringing total active clients to over 1.4 million and pushing net new business to a new high of 7.7 billion pounds.

The investment platform posted a 24% jump in pretax profit to 378.3 million pounds for the 12 months ended June 30.

While total assets under administration climbed 5% to 104 billion pounds, it marked a slowdown from an 8% rise recorded a year earlier.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)