finnCap Group PLC hiked its dividend 17% and said while its new financial year has been beset by the challenging conditions for equity markets, this has been balanced by a “strong” pipeline for mergers and acquisitions.
A final dividend for the year of 1.15p per share has been proposed, in a goodbye present from chief executive Sam Smith as she presided over her last set of annual results at the City stock broker and corporate adviser, taking total dividends for the year to 1.75p per share compared to 1.5p a year ago.
Cash ended the year to 31 March at £24.4mln, up from £20.4mln 12 months earlier.
Revenue of £52.5mln was up 13% on the prior year as M&A advisory arm finnCap Cavendish more than doubled revenue to £24.3mln but the equity capital markets (ECM) business saw sales drop 18% to £28.3mln.
Adjusted profit before tax came in at £9.3mln compared to £9.6mln a year earlier, with statutory PBT slipping to £8.1mln from £8.4mln.
The start to the 2023 financial year in ECM has been “challenging across the market with very low deal volumes”, though private and public M&A activity was said to remain “good” and the finnCap Cavendish M&A deal pipeline “remains strong”.
Said Smith: “Our FY22 results reflect the benefit of our sustained investment in our team over many years, and to their absolute focus on delivering our clients' ambitions.
“We completed transactions worth over £3.2 billion, further strengthened our balance sheet and delivered 50% of revenue from services established since our acquisition of Cavendish in 2018.
“With weak and volatile equity markets, the start to FY23 has been challenging in ECM across the market although we do continue to see good transaction levels in M&A, both plc and private, where our pipelines remain good.
“Inevitably these conditions will mean substantially lower results in FY23 but we remain confident that, through the teams we have developed and the client base and reputation we have established over many years, finnCap is well placed to resume growth once market conditions permit.”