LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in stockbroker Panmure Gordon & Co dropped in early trade on Tuesday after it said it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of 2015 as net commission and fee income declined amid tough market conditions.
Panmure said its pretax loss for the six months to the end of June was GBP230,000, compared to a GBP2.0 million profit a year earlier, as its net commission and fee income declined 20% to GBP13.1 million from GBP16.2 million.
The company said the first half had been challenging on a number of fronts, given external factors such as the UK General Election in May, disruptive market volaility in China and the economic fallout from Greece's debt negotiations.
Net commission and trading income was up to GBP5.7 million from GBP5.4 million, reflecting a robust performance from its institutional equity team in the half, but corporate finance and related income fell 35% to GBP7.5 million from GBP11.5 million. Though the number of corporate transactions it worked on was broadly similar year-on-year, the size and resulting revenue was lower, against disrupted by the uncertainty leading up to the UK election.
"The first half of the year has been challenging on account of external political and economic factors such as the UK election, disruptive market volatility in China and the political and economic fallout from Greece. Despite these challenges, I am pleased with the number of corporate transactions completed, which in total is similar to the number in 2014 though many of these executed were smaller in total value," said Phillip Wale, Panmure's chief executive.
"It is encouraging to see our pipeline of corporate transactions continuing to build in number and quality on account of the management changes made in the year, the sector based approach adopted across the group and the focus on origination of transactions. Although the timing of their completion is difficult to forecast due to prevailing market conditions, we remain confident in our ability to deliver an excellent level of service for our clients," Wale added.
Panmure shares were down 23% to 95.550 pence early Tuesday, one of the worst performers in the AIM All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
