Numis Corp. reported a 55% drop in pretax profit for the six months to March, in what’s likely to be the boutique investment bank’s final interim set of results as an independent firm before it is absorbed by Deutsche Bank AG.
(Bloomberg) — Numis Corp. reported a 55% drop in pretax profit for the six months to March, in what’s likely to be the boutique investment bank’s final interim set of results as an independent firm before it is absorbed by Deutsche Bank AG.
The London firm’s first-half pretax profit fell to £6 million ($7.6 million), Numis said in a statement Friday. Capital markets revenues slid 52% to £11.9 million with UK’s equity capital markets at a 10-year low even as the firm grew its market share.
Equities revenues slumped 17% to £21.6 million. Still, there was a 40% jump in advisory revenues as Numis continued to secure financial adviser mandates from its corporate broking client base.
Volumes are likely to “remain relatively low over the near term,” Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson, co-chief executive officers at Numis, said in the statement.
UK brokers have been hit hard by a sharp downturn in capital markets in 2022. Deterred by high inflation, interest rates and threats of a global recession, new London listings are getting rare, somewhat in line with a global drop.
In a surprise announcement a week ago, Deutsche Bank agreed to buy Numis in a £410 million deal that’s expected to close later this year. Deutsche Bank said it intends to co-brand with Numis. The transaction will take Germany’s biggest lender from a few dozen bankers focused on UK offerings to one of the biggest teams in the City.
Ham and Mitchinson struck a positive note, noting they’ve “started to see emerging indications that the second half may see relatively better conditions.”
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