Argentex Group PLC (LON:AGF) has said that while coronavirus (COVID-19) disruption led to some deferral of business in the first half of 2020 it expects to make this up over the rest of the year.
The AIM-listed firm provides foreign exchange services mainly to small and medium-sized companies but also institutions and high net worths.
In a trading update, the company said revenues for the six-months to September 30, 2020, were £11.8mln, or 14.7% lower than the previous year.
Argentex said continued macro-economic uncertainty and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the dip in revenue but it expects these deferrals to result in stronger trading volumes in the second half of the financial year.
The first half also saw the group add a significant number of new customers, Argentex added, with the rate of new client acquisition at 87% compared to the same period a year earlier.
The company said it remains confident that when combined with the expected uptick in trading, the second half will see a material improvement on first-half results.
In the trading update, Harry Adams, Argentex's co-CEO commented: “Whilst clients delaying their trading activity has impacted our revenues, each of them has a commercial need to remove FX risk, so we expect a significant backlog of client volumes to be realised, the timing of which will likely depend on market and geopolitical events."
Carl Jani, the group's other co-CEO added: "The strong underlying performance of the business - notably the marked elevation of new client acquisition - is testament to our focused, long-term approach.”
Argentex said it will report its interim results on November 202, 2020.