(Alliance News) - Stockbroker Numis Corp on Tuesday posted a double-digit interim revenue climb, despite "volatile market conditions" due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revenue in the six months to March 31 rose 13% year-on-year to GBP63.1 million from GBP55.7 million. Pretax profit edged 2.1% higher to GBP7.3 million from GBP7.1 million.
"Numis delivered good revenue growth against an unpredictable market backdrop which proved beneficial for our equities business but our Investment Banking division was impacted by lower deal volumes," Numis said.
Investment Banking revenue shrunk 5.0% annually to GBP36.9 million, though in Equities, it jumped 56% to GBP26.2 million.
The company noted the "largely unprecedented" six-month period, which showed the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 down 23% and 24%, respectively.
Aside from the Covid-19 pandemic, the busy half also included the UK general election.
"The three-month period ended December 31, 2019 featured subdued equity markets and weak corporate activity in advance of the UK General Election. Subsequently, markets delivered strong gains and UK equity market activity improved significantly. However, there was insufficient opportunity for deal flow to recover in response to the general election result as the second quarter was swiftly dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic which caused an unprecedented decline in global markets and extraordinary volatility levels," Numis said.
Numis held its dividend at 5.5 pence per share, but cash forked out on share repurchases was down 26% year-on-year at GBP5.5 million.
Co-Chief Executive Officers Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson said: "Whilst the pandemic is currently dominating markets, this event will eventually pass and the strength of our balance sheet ensures we can continue to focus on our long term strategic priorities. Our stability and consistency has underpinned our ability to capture market share gains through difficult market environments in the past and we expect to emerge from this challenging period with our business in a strong position."
Numis shares were 3.7% higher at 283.50p each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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