It was a stuttering start to the year for as markets navigated geopolitical tensions and mixed economic data. The golden child of the last two years, the S&P 500, was down 4.3% for the first three months, after two years of outperformance by the magnificent seven. Thankfully, the FTSE 100 and FTSE All Share both grew over the quarter, the FTSE 100 climbing by 5% and to offset the S&P500 decline. As a result, industry assets grew by a modest 0.7% (£2.7bn) to £405bn. Moneyfarm was in the top spot for growth thanks to its acquisition of Willis Owen.
With stock market growth and the ISA season unfolding, D2C players pedalled furiously to achieve gross sales of over £19bn, an increase of 19% on Q4. Better still, net sales jumped by 35% over the quarter from £5.6bn to £7.4bn at the end of March, showing some green shoots of optimism in the early part of the quarter (before the Tour de Trump got on its way).
In sales, the standout performer was Hargreaves Lansdown (HL), sporting a net sales yellow jersey for the first time in a while. The Bristol powerhouse has made a convincing stand in delivering its strongest gross and net sales figures for the last four years. HL alone delivered 40% of total gross sales for the D2C market in Q1. Behind HL and grouping together at the top of the peloton were interactive investor, Vanguard and AJ Bell. All three have delivered a net sales ratio of near 50%, if not higher in Q1, and smashed their sales records yet again. Coming up behind and eager to catch up was InvestEngine, which moved into fifth place for net sales and delivered its best numbers yet.
Top 5 platforms by gross and net sales animated chart: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/23138198/
Gemma Maher, Head of Market Insights at Fundscape said, “Of course, Q1 is only the beginning of the story and what happens in April will have an impact both on performance and sentiment for the rest of 2025. Direct players will have to work harder to convince some customers to invest their hard-earned cash. But where there is risk there is also opportunity, and with the growth of cash solutions we have started to see clients use them as a tool to manage market volatility.
“With interest rates coming down and the growing appeal of undervalued UK stocks, it could turn out to be a good year for the direct industry (barring any Trumptastic moves of course).”
