Cenkos Securities full year profit and revenue decline

AIM-listed stockbroker Cenkos Securities reported a drop in full year profit as revenue declined and the dividend was cut.

For the year to the end of December, pre-tax profit slid 26% to £19.9m on revenue of £76.5m, down from £88.5m in 2014.

Cenkos said revenue was hit by a slight change in the mix of fund raising, with more emphasis on investment funds tap issues and a larger average deal size, and lower market making activity.

Basic earnings per share slipped to 27.2p from 35.2p and the company reduced its dividend by 18% to 14p per share.

Chief executive officer Jim Durkin said: “Despite challenging market conditions since the start of 2016, there continues to be good institutional demand to fund high quality companies and ideas.

“Since January we have been engaged in a number of significant fund raisings for clients and our current pipeline is satisfactory given the current market environment."

At 0955 GMT, Cenkos shares were down 8.3% to 133p.