Shares in Peel Hunt Ltd (AIM:PEEL) plunged more than 14% today after the broker issued a profit warning on the back of investor-bruising inflation and global geopolitical tensions.
The group, which has 33 companies in the FTSE 100 index, said the market backdrop was particularly challenging, with a number of corporate transactions delayed and investor sentiment turning bearish.
The onset of inflation levels not seen in 30 years in the UK, combined with tightening monetary policy and rapidly rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia caused equity sell-offs and the delay of several M&A transactions.
“As a consequence of delays to the investment banking pipeline, beyond 31 March 2022, and Execution & Trading performance in Q4 of FY22, the Company now expects full-year revenue to be marginally below the bottom of the previously guided range and accordingly earnings will be commensurately lower than current market expectations,” Peel Hunt said.
But investment banking revenues are still expected to hit record levels, while execution & trading activity is flagged to continue to compare “favourably” with pre-pandemic levels.
The warning follows a similar announcement last week by private equity group Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO), who said exits from investments could be delayed if market volatility continued.
Peel Hunt fell to 151p in morning deals, down from 175p at close yesterday.