Shares in financial services firm Cenkos Securities rose on Wednesday, with investors focusing on the half-on-half increase in revenue rather than the year-on-year decrease, which was largely attributed to the economic slowdown.

Revenue from continuing operations came in at £20.2m, compared to £25.1m in the same period the previous year and £18.6m in the second half. Profit before tax from continuing operations fell from £5.0m to £3.5m (compared to £5.7m for the whole of 2011) resulting in earnings per share of 3.6p (2011 H1: 5.0p).

The interim dividend was lowered by 0.5p to 3.5p.

Divisionally, the corporate broking and advisory saw a 20% decline in revenue to £19.0m from £23.8m, largely due to a fall in corporate finance revenues. In its core market, AIM, the total value of primary admissions to AIM fell from £260m in the first half of 2011 to £210m in the first half of 2012. Additionally, in the same period, the value of secondary fund raisings on AIM fell from £2,557m to £1,551m. During the half year, the firm completed 21 transactions and its clients raised a total of £306m (H1 2011: £358m).

Institutional Equities revenue fell just 1.0% to £1.3m, with the segment result improving to £0.3m from £0.1m. The number of shares traded in the UK market, across all exchanges, was little different from the same period last year.

Fund and Wealth Management, which is provided through its 50% owned subsidiary, Cenkos Channel Islands, generated a profit after tax from discontinued operations of £3.5m.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Durkin said: "Whilst revenues have reduced owing to prevailing market conditions, I am pleased that we continue to raise funds for our expanding client base and that we remain profitable on our continuing operations.

"We also generated a £3.5m profit after tax from discontinued operations, following on from the disposal of our controlling stake in Cenkos Channel Islands. We have made an encouraging start to the second half of 2012."

The share price rose 4.59% to 57p by 12:57.

NR

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