PMR.L Regulatory News (PMR)

6 Dec 2005 07:02

Panmure Gordon & Co. plc06 December 2005 6 December 2005 Panmure Gordon & Co. plc ("Panmure Gordon") Trading Update Following a period of encouraging performance, the Board of Panmure Gordon ("theBoard") expects the results for the year ending 31 December 2005 to exceedcurrent market expectations. The Board now expects revenue for the year to 31 December 2005 to be not lessthan £28.0 million, of which £20.9 million will have been earned in the secondhalf of the year. Having continued to invest in high quality staff and havingmade a provision for staff bonuses, the Board expects operating profit beforeFRS20 option related charges and exceptional charges to be not less than £4.3million, of which £4.1 million will have been earned in the second half of theyear. On the basis of 44,687,572 being the estimate of the average number of shares inissue and an assumed tax charge of 20%, the Board expects earnings per share oncontinuing activities before exceptional charges and FRS20 option relatedcharges to be not less than 8.8p. We continue to make good progress in establishing Panmure Gordon as a leadingcorporate and institutional stockbroker. The integration of the Panmure Gordonand Durlacher businesses in the first half exceeded expectations and the secondhalf of the year has seen the firm gain further momentum against a background ofhelpful market conditions. We seek to service corporate clients at all levels of market capitalisation andthis year has seen good additions to the corporate client list. This has offsetthe ceasing of activity for some clients where the economic relationship wasunfavourable to Panmure Gordon. Our institutional equities business remains focused on client facilitationrather than proprietary trading and we continue to gain market share. The financial performance for the year ending 31 December 2005 includes theresults of Durlacher alone for the period 1 January 2005 to 26 April 2005 andfor the combined business for the rest of the period. It is intended that thepreliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2005 will be announced on 14March 2006. Cancellation of share premium account and deferred capital account Following the resolution passed at the Extraordinary General Meeting on 22 April2005, a Court Order on 12 October 2005 confirmed that the share premium accountand deferred share capital were cancelled and extinguished. The effect of thisis to eliminate the brought forward deficit on the profit and loss account andthus enable the Company to pay dividends out of future distributable profits.Although the board is not proposing to declare dividends in respect of thecurrent year, it may wish to do so in future years as the business generatessurplus cash. - ends - Enquiries:Panmure GordonTim Linacre 020 7459 3600David Liddell 020 7459 3600 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialDavid Rydell / Nick Lambert 020 7861 3232 About Panmure Gordon * Panmure Gordon is a UK-focused corporate and institutional stockbroker which provides corporate finance advice, distributes and trades securities and publishes investment research on behalf of a wide range of clients * The firm is one of the oldest established stockbrokers in the City, having been founded in 1876 by Harry Panmure Gordon * The business merged with Durlacher Corporation Plc at the end of April 2005 and is focused on UK equities, ranging from FTSE 100 to fast growing AIM stocks * Panmure Gordon is quoted on AIM (PMR.L) * One third of the Company's ordinary shares are held on behalf of management and staff with a further third owned by Lazard, the international investment bank * Panmure Gordon currently advises or is stockbroker to approximately 100 companies * Its institutional client base is served by a very experienced sales team and supported by in-depth research on more than 250 companies and 300 investment trusts * For more information on Panmure Gordon please visit http://www.panmure.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange