Numis Corporation PLC (LON:NUM) shares dropped on Friday after the stockbroker posted a 64% slump in first half profit, blaming a “challenging market backdrop”.
Pre-tax profit fell to £7.1mln in the six months to March 31 from £19.5mln a year ago on revenue down 24.9% to £55.7mln.
Numis said political uncertainty surrounding Brexit, volatile equity markets and a material decline in transaction activity hit its performance.
READ: Numis warns of big drop in first-half revenue as a result of a "challenging" first half market environment
“Our first half performance has been impacted by a significant slowdown in UK deal activity and investors maintaining a cautious approach toward the UK market,” joint chief executives, Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson said.
“However, we are encouraged by the continued progress of the business and believe our investment in recent years provides a strong platform from which we can continue to successfully execute our strategy.”
The group added six corporate clients in the period but revenue per person dropped 33.8% to £401,000.
Investment banking revenue fell 23.8% on a sharp fall in market activity while equities revenue declined 27.5% on lower UK volumes.
The net asset position at the end of March was £140.2mln, compared to £140.0mln the same time a year ago.
Cash balances stood at £78.9mln, down from £82.5mln last year.
Numis maintained an interim dividend of 5.5p each.
“We believe the current market environment, whilst uncertain in the short term, presents further opportunities for the business to advance its strategic ambitions within an evolving competitive landscape,” Ham and Mitchinson said.
Shares fell 3.6% to 255p in morning trading.