The writing appeared to be on the wall for beleaguered City broker and wealth manager WH Ireland Group PLC (AIM:WHI).
In the face of a forced wind-down of operations amid a brutal bear cycle, the group committed to a £5 million emergency rights issue in July at an equally brutal 86% share price discount.
As such, WH Ireland’s full-year results released on Wednesday came as no surprise.
Year-on-year revenues fell from £32 million to £26.2 million, with underlying losses of £2 million compared to £100,000 in profits in 2022.
This resulted in losses per share of 3.29p.
The £5 million emergency fundraising propped up the group’s cash position, which stood at £7.8 million as of 22 September.
"The market backdrop has been extremely challenging,” said chief executive Phillip Wale. “While the FTSE 100 was relatively resilient compared with overseas exchanges, the AIM market fell 22% over the period and this severely impacted transactional business (and particularly fundraisings) in our capital markets business.”
However, the group is holding out for a break-even in the current financial year, contending that the £5 million fundraising and cost-reduction measures have secured a future for the group.
Wale stated: “Following the fundraise in July, we have a stable platform to navigate challenging markets and to take advantage of better market conditions in future.
“After significant first-half losses, the completion of our cost reduction programme gives us the opportunity of returning to a break-even position in the remainder of the financial year."
However, it remains an uphill struggle for WH Ireland, in a year when two of its competitors, finnCap and Cenkos, agreed to merge in order to stay afloat.