26th Mar 2019 09:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stockbroker Cenkos Securities PLC has reduced its payout after both profit and revenue dipped in what it said was a "challenging" year, though its outlook is optimistic.
Cenkos is paying a final dividend of 2.5 pence per share. Its total for 2018 is thus 4.5p, half of what it returned in 2017.
Pretax profit declined to GBP3.2 million, after GBP10.0 million in 2017, as revenue slipped to GBP45.0 million from GBP59.5 million.
"Revenue, dominated by placing and corporate finance fees, have been generated across the firm in reasonable numbers but with an absence of the larger deals that took place in 2017," commented Cenkos.
"Profit has been impacted by the implementation costs and consequences of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, or MiFID II, together with restructuring costs following the implementation of business reviews of the front and back office."
During the year Cenkos helped clients raise GBP1.2 billion, just under half of what it did in 2017, but it said its client base remains solid.
Looking ahead, Cenkos said investor sentiment is still being dampened by market volatility, which is likely to keep going through 2019. However, it has had a better start to 2019 than it did 2018, and there is a "significant" pipeline of larger transactions.
Shares were 7.4% higher on Tuesday morning at a price of 72.50 pence each.
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