Peel Hunt shares edge up as City broker cuts costs to reduce losses
Shares in City broker Peel Hunt edged higher in early trades this morning after the company issued a positive trading update.
The company said it anticipated revenue of £90m for the year ending 31 March 2025, an increase of five per cent from the previous year. The investment bank reported revenue of £85.5m in fiscal 2024.
It added that action taken to slash costs meant losses expected to be recorded in its full year report had been reduced.
Shares in the broker edged up 0.6 per cent as the market opened on Tuesday.
The firm referenced a challenging second-half with “a number of macro-economic events that weighed on market volumes and corporate activity”.
The last six months of Peel Hunt’s financial calendar included President Trump’s inauguration and the tumultuous market activity that followed.
Escalating tensions around Trump’s tariffs have led to numerous share sell-offs in recent months.
The London-listed firm’s first-half results, posted in November, showed the broker posting a pre-tax profit of £1.2m.
This marked a 250 per cent swing from the £800,000 loss posted in the same period last year, as the investment bank was able to brush off pressures of the Autumn Budget lingering over City dealmakers.
Peel Hunt said it made “good progress in delivering on strategic priorities” in the past year, noting its “high quality mid-cap” client base.
The investment back said it now acts for 52 FTSE 350 clients, including five FTSE 100 companies.
Despite a slowdown in market activity, the City broker said it has an “encouraging pipeline of investment banking transactions across both M&A and IPOs”
It added a number of announced M&A transactions that are set to be completed in the first quarter of its next financial year.
Peel Hunt will publish its full report for the 2025 financial year in mid-June.