Volatile conditions make 2015 tough for Arden Partners

Challenging market conditions made for a tough 2015 for Arden Partners, with the firm reporting its preliminary results for the 12 months ended 31 October 2015 on Thursday.

The AIM-traded institutional stockbroking company reported revenue of £5.5m, down from £8m in 2014.

Arden Partners' loss before tax for the year was £2.1m, down from a profit of £0.08m. Its underlying loss was £1.8m, down from a £0.15m underlying profit in 2014.

The numbers made for a basic loss per share of 10.8p for the year.

"Although Arden has struggled to capitalise on its strong institutional and corporate client base to increase market share in these challenging times, the book of mandated business since the year end has increased substantially", said chairman Peter Moon.

"We are confident that work in progress will be converted to profitable business as the year progreses", he commented.

Chief executive James Reed-Daunter said that market conditions remained challenging.

"Arden has already booked a number of transactions in its new financial year, and is working to complete further mandates from its healthy pipeline of corporate business", he said.

"With a strong balance sheet and a strong board, we continue to work hard to deliver shareholder value for the longer term", Reed-Daunter concluded.