WH Ireland Group PLC (AIM:WHI) gave a ray of hope to London’s becalmed capital markets as it said activity has ticked up and it recently completed some of its largest fundraisings for “many months”.
The small-cap broker and fund manager is retrenching heavily with a headcount down by almost a third to 111 from 156 a year ago and cost savings of £3.8 million.
Corporate clients have also dropped to 86 from 90, but WHI added it had picked up two since the end of the half year while it returned to profit on an underlying basis in November.
Revenue in the six months to the end of September 2023 fell to £10.7 million from £14.3 million, while pre-tax losses soared to £3.9 million, including one-offs of £1.7 million.
Phillip Wale, chief executive, said: "WH Ireland's interim results reflect both the well-documented challenging market backdrop, as well as the impact of the non-recurring costs incurred in streamlining the business after the refinancing in the summer.
“Market conditions, while remaining challenging, have shown some tentative signs of improvement in both indices and activity levels since November.”
Shares rose 7% to 3.75p.