Daniel Stewart down on weak half year

Stockbroker Daniel Stewart has fallen sharply in morning trading after revealing a post-tax loss for the six months to the end of December.The company, which publishes investment research and organises public offerings, said the second quarter "proved to be particularly slow" and described market conditions as "hostile".The adjusted post tax loss for the whole period was £143,799. The opening of new offices and staff retention costs also saw the cash position worsen from £1.1m at the same point of 2010 to £0.9m this year.Revenues were slightly up from 2010 at £3.6m versus £3.5m.Looking at the operational numbers one can see just how tough the last half year has been for Daniel Stewart. It raised £33m from corporate clients, down from £39.9m over the same period of 2010. The number of retained brokerships dropped from 57 to 56 while, most concerning, only 11 transactions were completed between April and September versus 22 the previous year.The firm blames the slowdown in completions on "timing differences" over the comparable half-year of 2010. It also says deals outside of the UK and Europe (where most of the current activity is) tend to take longer.There is some good news, though, for the firm. It is due to open a Hong Kong office early next year and expects to be able to fund its expansion east from current cash flows.In early trading the firm was down 7% at 1.25p. Over the year to date Daniel Stewart is down 7.2%, just slightly better than the FTSE 100 which is down 7.8%BS