The direct-to-consumer platform is held in Lindsell Train Investment Trust, Finsbury Growth & Income and the boutique manager’s Global fund.
It rallied almost 40% in May.
Meanwhile, a regulatory filing shows Lansdown sold 6.6 million shares, worth approximately £130m, on Tuesday. His remaining 51.4 million shares are still worth over £1bn.
Lansdown owns the shares through Guernsey-based PHL Limited, in which he is the sole shareholder.
Train’s outlook
Train listed Hargreaves alongside Pearson, Intuit and World Wrestling Entertainment as companies developing digital strategies out of 20th-century business models, in the latest Lindsell Train Investment Trust fact sheet.
“Each has to invest heavily in new versions of its traditional product or service. Each confronts new entrants or even the threat of complete disintermediation. But for each the promise of higher cash returns on capital, as a result of successful transition to asset-light ways of doing business – offers prospects for much higher valuations and share prices over time.”
Specifically on Hargreaves, as well as Intuit, Train said he expected it to be a very different business in 10 years’ time – if their strategies are successful.
“Perhaps the increasing amount of data this pair will aggregate from their millions of customers will become a higher or even the dominant source of market value,” he said.
Largest allocations to Hargreaves Lansdown in the Investment Association
| Aviva Investors UK Equity MoM | 8.55% |
| Lindsell Train UK Equity | 8.40% |
| Baillie Gifford UK Equity Alpha | 5.30% |
| SDL UK Buffettology | 3.24% |
| Royal London – UK Equity Income | 2.46% |
Source: FE Analytics
“Technology requires us to rethink our assumptions about all the companies we’re invested in and their likely future value-added,” Train concluded. “It’s a bit scary and rather exciting. But simply relying on 20th-century business models just won’t cut it anymore as we approach the third decade of the 21st.”
