Panmure Gordon swings to full year loss

Institutional stockbroker and investment bank Panmure Gordon swung to a pre-tax loss in 2015 as extreme volatility, in large part due to concerns about Chinese growth and attendant collapses in commodity markets, constrained the equity capital markets.

For the year ended 31 December, Panmure posted a pre-tax loss of £18.9m versus a £2.1m profit the year before as goodwill and impairment charges took their toll.

The company said net commission and fee income fell to £23m from £29.4m and there will be no dividend for the year following a 2.5p per share payout a year ago.

Chief Executive Patric Johnson said: “2015 was a disappointing year with regards to our primary markets activities.

“However, our institutional securities business performed well, we successfully completed the acquisition of Charles Stanley Securities in July 2015, increased our corporate client base to 152 from 123 and we remodelled the business with our corporate-led, sector-driven approach and this strategy is already yielding results.”

Still, the company said 2016 has kicked off well with good progress on operational efficiencies and 14 corporate transactions by the end of March, up from six in the same period a year before. In addition, Panmure said it was profitable for the first three months of the year.

“Despite this, we are under no illusion as to the potency of the dangers that lie ahead of us this year and the external factors that will weigh heavily on the fund raising opportunities in our market. Encouragingly, we have an extremely talented team of people and a very supportive shareholder in QInvest - an excellent platform on which to build for the future,” Johnson said.

At 0925 GMT, Panmure shares were down 1.6% to 60p.