Jarvis Securities reports 'favourable' first-half conditions

Jarvis Securities reported a £1.3m, or 19%, increase in its revenue in its first half on Thursday, to £8.12m.

The AIM-traded firm said profit before tax was ahead 27.9%,or £1m, for the six months ended 30 June, at £4.6m, while cash under administration improved 17.3% year-on-year.

Earnings per share increased to 8.45p, from 6.67p in the first half of 2020.

“I am delighted to present a set of results that I believe demonstrates the last year was not a unique period relating to extraordinary market conditions, but evidence of the growth that the business has made, and continues to make, over the past five years,” said chairman and chief executive officer Andrew Grant.

“Trading conditions have been favourable, but we have not seen the extreme volatility and accompanying spikes in daily volumes that occurred in 2020.

“Share prices have been relatively stable, and the accompanying volumes are at a level I expect to be the considered normal for the foreseeable future.”

Grant said Jarvis had been able to capture additional revenue through growth of the business, noting that the figures demonstrated the company’s operational gearing allowing for much of that revenue to translate into profit.

“We have onboarded two new institutional clients during the period, our existing institutional clients continue to grow organically, and we have a healthy pipeline of enquiries for our outsourcing, custody and settlement services.

“Operationally we have proved resilient in dealing with the various restrictions Covid-19 has placed on businesses and as we move into the next phase of removing restrictions, I am certain we will continue to deal well with the changing circumstances.”

Finally, Andrew Grant said that during the period, Jarvis realised a “substantial” sum of cash through the sale of treasury shares which had been purchased over several years.

“We have also, since the period end, filed the court's approval to cancel the share premium account of Jarvis Securities with Companies House.

“Once registered, this will have the effect of increasing the distributable reserves and gives additional flexibility for the board to return cash to shareholders.”

At 1001 BST, shares in Jarvis Securities were up 6.41% at 260.7p.