LONDON (Alliance News) - Updates from AIM-listed stockbrokers Numis Corp and Panmure Gordon & Co PLC on Thursday offered clues as to how they fared in the volatile start the year for financial markets.
Numis, which is led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Oliver Hemsley, on Thursday said equity issuance remained "relatively strong" in the first half of its financial year, spanning the six months ended March 31.
The stockbroker completed 27 equity transactions in the half, including 10 initial public offerings, and said it has a "number of" corporate transactions due to complete in April and beyond. The 27 transactions compared to 23 the year before, with six IPOs.
Numis expects first-half revenue and profit to exceed what was recorded a year earlier, when revenue amounted to GBP45.7 million and adjusted pretax profit was GBP14.3 million.
At Numis's annual meeting of shareholders on February 2, Chairman Gerald Corbett said the stockbroker had completed 20 equity finance transactions, including eight IPOs, since the start of its financial year on October 1. By December 2, Numis had recorded 12 capital raising transactions since that time, including six IPOs.
"While we remain sensitive to recent increased volatility in the equity markets and the wider impact of global economic concerns arising from the Far East, our deal pipeline is strong and includes both fund raising and M&A prospects for the coming year," Corbett told shareholders at February's annual meeting. The chairman is leaving his role at Numis in February 2017.
Patric Johnson, the former Investec banker who became chief executive of Panmure Gordon in February, on Thursday said the start to 2016 proved "extremely challenging" for the financial services industry, with volatility spiking and a continued decline in trading volumes.
The new chief executive said there has been uncertainty about the UK's upcoming June 23 referendum on whether to remain a member of the EU or leave, US presidential elections scheduled for November, and China's economic slowdown.
Panmure started 2016 profitably, Johnson said, with the 14 transactions by the end of March measuring up against six transactions in the first quarter of the prior year. There has been "modest, though steady, growth" in Panmure's secondary business, Johnson said.
"Despite this, we are under no illusion as to the potency of the dangers that lie ahead of us this year and the external factors that will weigh heavily on the fund raising opportunities in our market," Johnson said.
Numis was down 1.1% at 199.34 pence on AIM on Thursday afternoon, while Panmure was down 1.6% at 60.00p. Numis's market capitalisation is around GBP224.0 million, while Panmure's is around GBP9.0 million.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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