Peel Hunt profits, revenue slump as activity levels normalise

The company, which floated last year, said pre-tax profit slumped 57% in the year to the end of March to £33.1m, with revenues down 33.5% to £131m. It noted an "exceptional" prior year performance, and said market activity and volumes have moderated from the highs of the pandemic.

Revenue in the Execution Services segment came in at £42.9m, in line with the company’s expectations and down from £116.7m a year earlier. Compared with 2020, however, revenues were ahead. Peel pointed out that the prior year was buoyed by much higher volumes and volatility amid market-wide uncertainty at the onset of the pandemic, while FY20 was a more comparable, pre-pandemic market environment.

In the Research & Distribution business, revenues fell to £30.2m from £36.3m.

Peel said market conditions were challenging in the second half, particularly in the last quarter, where exceptionally low levels of capital markets activity were experienced market wide.

"We expect ECM (equity capital markets) activity to continue in line with Q4 of FY22 through the first half of FY23," it said.

"Despite this market backdrop, we have acted on some of the more significant UK mid-cap ECM transactions that have been executed since the start of FY23, and remain hopeful that market conditions in the second half of our financial year will support execution of our strong pipeline of Investment Banking transactions."