REG - Peel Hunt Limited - Half Year Trading Update

Peel HuntAnnouncement

03/10/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221003:nRSC4489Ba&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4489B  Peel Hunt Limited  03 October 2022

3 October 2022

Peel Hunt Limited

("Peel Hunt")

 

Half Year Trading Update: Difficult markets but positioned for growth

 

Peel Hunt, a leading UK investment bank, today issues a trading update in
respect of the six-month period ended 30 September 2022.

 

During the first half, we have continued to invest in our business and make
significant progress against our strategic priorities. This has
been achieved against the backdrop of historically low levels of capital
markets activity persisting market-wide throughout the period. Group revenue
for the period is expected to be approximately £40.5m as a result.

Progress across business divisions

In Investment Banking, we have continued to diversify our business by building
out both our Advisory and Private Capital Markets capabilities. During the
period we added 11 new retained corporate clients (including 4 in the FTSE
350), more than offsetting client losses in the period (including those
resulting from M&A). We now have a retained corporate client base of 164
companies with an average market capitalisation of approximately £600m and
spanning 10% of the FTSE 350 (35 FTSE 350 clients).

In Research and Distribution, demonstrating the quality of our offering, we
were named Best UK Small & Midcap Broker in Institutional Investor's 2022
Europe Survey for the second year in a row and our research team was voted the
No1 UK Small & Midcap Research team for the 6(th) consecutive year.

In Execution Services, we continue to open up incremental, differentiated
liquidity. Whilst trading volumes have remained much lower across the market,
particularly in small-cap and AIM, our FTSE 350 and investment trusts trading
books have performed in line with expectations.

Continued technology investment

Our investment in proprietary technology remains a key strategic focus and
differentiator. In particular, our REX technology platform, which facilitates
access to primary capital markets transactions for retail investors, continues
to make good progress. REX is now being engaged by other investment banks on
their capital markets fundraisings following a number of instructions to act
on non-Peel Hunt transactions. REX is well placed to benefit from the findings
of the Government's Secondary Capital Raising Review that was published during
the period, and which recommends that issuers include existing retail
shareholders in all capital raises. To support the next stage of its growth,
we are actively engaged in establishing REX as a standalone business
independent of Peel Hunt.

 

International expansion

We remain on track to launch Peel Hunt Europe towards the end of this
financial year, with good progress ongoing with the Danish Financial
Supervisory Authority in relation to our proposal to open an EU-wide platform
based in Copenhagen. In addition, recognising its strategic importance, we
have continued to strengthen our North American distribution capability with a
number of key hires.

 

Outlook

As we head into our second half, the outlook for capital markets remains
uncertain. Adverse geopolitical and macro-economic factors have continued to
negatively impact markets. More recently, tightening of monetary policy and
Government fiscal stimulus have further destabilised markets.

 

Notwithstanding this backdrop, we enter this period with a robust balance
sheet and a strong regulatory capital position. When market activity levels
normalise, we are well positioned for growth, taking advantage of our expanded
footprint and the considerable operational leverage that we have built into
the business.

 

Peel Hunt will announce half year results for the six month period ended 30
September 2022 on 1 December 2022.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 Peel Hunt via MHP
 Steven Fine, CEO

 Sunil Dhall, CFOO
 MHP (Financial PR)                               +44 (0)20 3128 8540

                                                  peelhunt@mhpc.com
 Andrew Jaques

 Charlie Barker

 Robert Collett-Creedy
 Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser)        +44 (0)20 7728 2942
 Colin Aaronson

 Daphne Zhang

 Sam Littler

 Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (Corporate Broker)       +44 (0) 207 710 7600
 Alistair McKay

 Alberto Moreno Blasco

 Fred Walsh

 Dennis Towers

 

 

Notes to editors

Peel Hunt is a leading specialist in UK Investment Banking, ranked number one
broker for UK mid- and small-cap companies in Institutional Investor's 2022
Survey. Our purpose is to nurture and guide people through the evolution of
business. We achieve this through a proven, joined-up approach that
consistently delivers value to UK corporates, global institutions and trading
counterparties alike.

 

We have 164 corporate clients (including 35 in the FTSE 350), with an average
market capitalisation of approximately £600m. Our award-winning research is
distributed to over 1,235 institutions across the UK, Europe and US. Our
trading platform makes markets in over 10,000 instruments on over 45 markets
and is an increasingly important provider of trade execution services to UK
retail platforms and brokers.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTUASBRUVURRAA