- Investors reluctant to trade shares
- Fund business holds up well
Turbulence is always a problem for large platform brokers and Hargreaves Lansdown's (HL.) results showed how a market pullback can adversely affect retail investor sentiment, with negative consequences for the bottom line. The situation can basically be summed up as: 'investors buy shares when market go up and sell, or do nothing, when they fall'. Apart from illustrating some uncomfortable truths about behaviour during times of market exuberance, this is also the reason why management can’t offer more precise guidance on the progress of its strategic transformation plan, on which the company will lavish £175mn between now and 2026.