Shares in Peel Hunt Ltd (AIM:PEEL) rose almost 6% to 98.3p after the mid-cap focused investment bank said London "market conditions have begun to improve", leading to a strong start to its new financial year.
Revenues for the first quarter to end-June were "comfortably ahead" of what was a solid equivalent period last year, with good institutional sales and even better from its Execution Services businesses, which include market‑making, dealing and trade execution.
"We continue to have a strong pipeline of M&A transactions, with a number of situations both announced and in process," the company said in a statement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting.
"It remains to be seen whether a more general pick up in equity issuance and IPO activity will follow."
Despite an uncertain macroeconomic background, investor confidence "appears to be increasingly resilient", the broker said.
It has a mandate on "a number" of transactions that are expected to be completed in the back half of the calendar year and early 2026, "should market conditions be supportive".
Peel Hunt pointed out that it continues to strengthen international capabilities, adding an office in Abu Dhabi to its international network in the coming months, alongside those in New York and Copenhagen.
"This is critical to our clients, as it provides access to global investors who are an increasingly important constituent of listed UK company share registers."