Numis Corporation PLC – Half Year Results
Numis Corporation Plc today announces unaudited interim results for the period ended 31 March 2019.
Highlights
- Challenging market backdrop has impacted first half performance
- Investment Banking revenues 24% lower than H1 2018 but 3% higher than the second half of 2018
- Quality of the corporate client base continues to progress – 54 FTSE 350 clients and 17% increase in average market cap
- Equities revenue down 28% reflecting weak UK investor sentiment and lower market volumes
- Transition to MiFID II completed, payments for research remain in line with prior year despite reduction in institutional budgets
- Dividend maintained at 5.5p and £7.5m spent on share repurchases in the 6 month period
- Strong balance sheet, additional £35m of liquidity provided by new committed credit facility
Key statistics
|
Financial highlights |
H1 2019 |
H1 2018 |
Change |
|
Revenue |
£55.7m |
£74.1m |
(24.9)% |
|
Underlying Operating profit |
£8.1m |
£19.3m |
(57.9)% |
|
Profit before tax |
£7.1m |
£19.5m |
(63.6)% |
|
EPS |
5.4p |
15.8p |
(65.8)% |
|
Cash |
£78.9m |
£82.5m |
(4.4)% |
|
Net assets |
£140.2m |
£140.0m |
0.1% |
|
Operating highlights |
|||
|
Corporate clients |
214 |
208 |
+6 |
|
Average market cap of clients |
£836m |
£711m |
17.3% |
|
Revenue per head (annualised) |
£401k |
£606k |
(33.8)% |
|
Operating margin |
14.6% |
26.0% |
(11.4ppts) |
|
Spend on share repurchases |
£7.5m |
£9.7m |
(22.7)% |
Notes:
1) Revenue, Underlying Operating profit, Operating margin and Revenue per head all exclude investment income / losses
2) EPS represents Basic EPS
Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson, Co-Chief Executive Officers, said:
“We operate in a cyclical industry and our financial performance will always be influenced to a certain extent by market conditions. Our first half performance has been impacted by a significant slowdown in UK deal activity and investors maintaining a cautious approach toward the UK market. However, we are encouraged by the continued progress of the business and believe our investment in recent years provides a strong platform from which we can continue to successfully execute our strategy.
Numis benefits from a strong financial position established over a period of many years. This stability provides reassurance to existing and potential clients, and ensures Numis continues to be a great platform for our staff, and potential new hires. Stability has also significantly contributed to our track record of outperformance during periods of difficult market conditions. We believe the current market environment, whilst uncertain in the short term, presents further opportunities for the business to advance its strategic ambitions within an evolving competitive landscape.”