On Wednesday, Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest direct to investor investment service which administers over £58 billion of investments released its interim report for the 6 months ended 31 December 2015.

The company saw a significant amount of inflows during the 6 months, up 23% from £2.25bn in H1 2015 to £2.77 billion. Assets under Lansdown’s administration hit an all time high of £58.8 billion up 7% since 30th June 2015 in comparison to a fall in the FTSE All Share of 3.5%.

The broker increased active client numbers to 783,000, an increase of 47,000 since 30 June 2015 whilst net revenue was also up by 10% and profit before tax up 6% compared to H1 2015.

Ian Gorham, Hargeaves Lansdowns CEO said:

“Hargreaves Lansdown has continued to prosper during an unsettled six month period for stock markets, with growth in new clients, assets and profits.”

He noted that the results were achieved against a backdrop of continuing worldwide market volatility, stemming from various macroeconomic concerns and weak commodity prices.

Despite a falling stock market which typically has a high correlation with “reduced propensity to invest amongst retail investors” he said new ISA and Fund & Share account business has remained robust during the period. New pension freedoms have also been a positive for the broker which has attracted new clients to their Vantage SIPP which caused net new business to be up 73% over the six months.

Most of Hargreaves Lansdown’s income is generated through trading fees on client assets so usually lower stock markets can reduce short-term income for brokers however net revenue increased by 10%, driven by new clients, assets and growth in multi-manager funds.

Profit before tax for the period increased by 6% to £108.1m compared to £101.9m in H1.

Following up from the positive 6 month results the board said it had recommended a 7% rise in its interim dividend to 7.8 pence per share reflecting the groups long-term earnings opportunity and excellent cash flow potential.