UK economic recovery boost Cenkos' first-half results

Specialist institutional securities group Cenkos Securities cited a growing list of clients and increased fundraising as the main factors behind a significant increase in revenue in the first half.Group revenue for the six months of 2014 was £65.2m, a 226% increase year-on-year, while profit before tax surged from £3.1m in the first half of 2013 to £23.5m.Cenkos said that equity markets had benefited from the economic recovery the UK is experiencing, with the total funds being raised by all AIM-listed companies rising by 161% to £3.7bn."Our successful strategy of being a leading UK institutional broker continues to bear fruit,” said group chief executive Jim Durkin.“The first-half results reflected the completion of a particularly large transaction in addition to the completion of a good number of regular transactions.”Earnings per share rose from 3.9p to 29.7p and the company has declared an interim dividend of 7p per share, a 100% increase year-on-year. It also anticipates paying a full-year dividend that is higher than in 2013.The group said it had made a good start to the second half with “an encouraging pipeline of deals” lined up.Cenkos shares rose 14.31% to 246.90p at 09:33 on Wednesday.