(Alliance News) - Arden Partners PLC on Monday said revenue declined in its most recently ended financial year as political, macroeconomic and Brexit uncertainties led to falls in business confidence, corporate activity, stock liquidity, trading volumes and investment.
The stockbroking company reported a pretax loss of GBP2.6 million for the financial year to the end of October, narrowed slightly from a GBP2.8 million loss a year earlier, as administrative expenses were reduced to GBP9.2 million from GBP10.2 million.
Less positively, revenue fell by 10% to GBP6.6 million from GBP7.4 million year-on-year.
"2019 was a challenging market environment for everyone involved in small and mid cap equity capital markets. We reacted by tightly managing our costs and focusing on growing our corporate client list," explained Chair Mark Ansell.
Arden Partners said it grew its retained corporate client base and increased the number of transactions it completed for these clients. The company said it is now retained to act for 55 listed companies, up from 51 a year prior, 80% of which are listed on London's AIM market.
Ansell added: "The decisive result of the UK general election in December 2019 has removed some of the uncertainty which has impacted markets and we are well placed to capitalise on opportunities as and when they arise."
Arden Partners shares were trading 3.1% lower in London on Monday at 15.50 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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