LONDON (Alliance News) - Arden Partners PLC Tuesday said its pretax profit rose sharply in its last financial year, buoyed by the GBP238 million it raised for clients and the eleven corporate transactions it carried out.
The institutional stockbroker said it made a GBP1.3 million pretax profit for the year ended October 31, compared with GBP211,000 the previous year.
Arden pushed its dividend up to 3.0 pence a share, from 0.65 pence a year earlier.
Although revenue rose by 3.2% to GBP10.1 million, Arden's profits also saw the benefits of the tight control it kept on its costs as administrative expenses fell to GBP8.8 million, from GBP9.6 million a year earlier.
About GBP5.0 million of Arden's revenue came from its equities division, while the corporate finance division contributed GBP5.1 million, up from GBP3.4 million in fiscal 2012.
That means the stockbroker's revenues have become more balanced since last year, when the split was less even.
The equities division's revenue dropped to GBP5.0 million from last year's GBP6.4 million as regulatory changes to the way stockbrokers can operate have reduced commission rates.
"Current market conditions represent a significant opportunity for the group to grow and we are currently recruiting into a number of core areas of the business, in support of our strategy to develop our corporate client base," Peter Moon, chairman, said in a statement.
"Trading since the year end has been satisfactory and we have an encouraging pipeline of potential new business," Moon added.
Arden Partners shares were Tuesday quoted up 1.6% at 64.00 pence.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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