(Reuters) - Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV) posted higher half-yearly profit on Thursday, but the investment platform's shares tumbled more than 8% on concerns around increasing outflows.
Clients withdrew cash from the company's Fund and Share accounts to deal with cost-of-living issues or to pay down debt, Hargreaves Lansdown said.
Net new business at the company came in at 1 billion pounds for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with 1.6 billion pounds a year earlier.
Flows across the UK's money management market this year have tumbled as investors look to dodge volatility in the face of high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty.
Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown, which exited London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index late last year, dropped to 741 pence, the steepest decline in two years.
The current uncertain economic environment is likely to remain and weigh on investor confidence, CEO Dan Olley said in a statement.
The company reported underlying profit before tax of 221.5 million pounds ($280.31 million) for the period, compared with 211.9 million pounds a year earlier and slightly above analysts' expectations.
($1 = 0.7902 pounds)