WH Ireland Group PLC (AIM:WHI) saw its shares tumble 5.3% lower to 18.00p in early trade on Monday after the wealth manager and corporate broker issued a warning that trading in the year just ended had missed forecasts.
The company said the challenging conditions across capital markets continued to impact its performance in the second half of its financial year, meaning trading is now below previous management expectations.
It forecast full-year revenue of around £26mln and a pre-tax underlying loss in excess of £2.2mln for the 12 months to 31 March 2023.
The Capital Markets division closed the year with 88 retained corporate clients, unchanged from a year earlier.
On a more positive note, WH Ireland said its Wealth Management division has remained resilient and achieved underlying profitability in the last six months. Total assets under management within the division at the year-end stood at £1.5bn, compared with £1.6bn a year earlier, with group assets under management being £2.2bn (31 March 2022: £2.4bn).
The company had cash at the period end of £4.0mln (31 March 2022: £6.4mln) ahead of the receipt of quarterly recurring cash from its platform providers, which is anticipated to be at least £2.5mln and is due imminently.