PMR.L Regulatory News (PMR)

29 Jun 2007 07:01

Panmure Gordon & Co. plc29 June 2007 Panmure Gordon & Co. plc ("Panmure Gordon") Trading Update Panmure Gordon & Co. plc ("Panmure Gordon") today issued a trading statementahead of the close period relating to the half year ending 30 June 2007. Expected Results Following a strong second quarter the Board of Panmure Gordon ("the Board")expects profit before tax for the half year ending 30 June 2007 to be ahead ofmarket expectations. Revenue from the UK operations for the six months will be not less than £25m(2006: £18.3m) and for the US operations for the three months of ownership notless than $16m. Profit before tax for the combined group will be not less than £8.3m (against amarket expectation of £6.7m) with adjusted earnings per share (prepared on thesame basis as prior years) of not less than 8.7p per share, based on the estimated weighted average number of shares in issue of 65.8m. ThinkEquity, the US based investment bank which joined the Panmure Gordon Groupon 1 April 2007, has made satisfactory progress during the three months sinceacquisition. A number of significant hires, particularly in investment banking,have been made. ThinkEquity broke even in the three months after certainrestructuring costs and costs associated with the new hirings. Progress has beenmade in expanding the wealth advisory business and the Board expects significantgrowth in this area over the next six months. ThinkEquity will enter the secondhalf of the year with a strong investment banking pipeline and we look forwardto continuing progress during the remainder of 2007. The UK operations, which all trade as Panmure Gordon, have had a good first halfand a particularly strong second quarter as a result of fundraisings undertakenon behalf of corporate clients and an encouraging performance from InstitutionalEquities. The Liverpool office has just opened and the Board believes that theteam that has been recruited will make a significant impact to the profitabilityof the firm. Given the strength of the business performance, and the confidence the Board hasin the outlook for the company, it is likely that the Board will, subject to nounforeseen circumstances, recommend the payment of a maiden interim dividend of1.5p per share. Further information will be given on this at the time of theannouncement of the interim results on 12 September 2007. -ends- Enquiries Panmure GordonTim Linacre +44 (0) 20 7614 8300David Liddell +44 (0) 20 7459 5749 Bell Pottinger Corporate & FinancialDavid Rydell / Nick Lambert / Christopher Hamilton +44 (20) 7861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange