Interim Results for the Six Months ended 30 June 2014
Shore Capital Group Limited (“Shore Capital”, the “Group”, or the “Company”), the independent investment group specialising in equity capital markets, principal finance and alternative asset management, today announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2014.
Financial Highlights
- Revenue up 26.5% to £22.5 million (2013: £17.8 million)
- Profit before tax up 50.1% to £5.0 million (2013: £3.3 million) equivalent to 92% of PBT for the full year 2013
- Earnings per share up 49.4% to 12.4p (2013: 8.3p*)
- Adjusted earnings per share up 56.6% to 13.0p excluding costs relating to share options (2013: 8.3p*)
- Interim dividend per share of 5.0p (2013: 4.0p*)
- Balance sheet remains strong with liquidity of £34.1 million
* adjusted to reflect the share reorganisation that took place in December 2013
Operational Highlights
- Equity Capital Markets operations increased pre-tax profits by 99.1% to £6.1 million (2013: £3.1 million)
- Extel survey performance recognises the quality of Research and Sales, with seven top five rankings
- Corporate Finance transactions raised £1.5 billion in the period and added seven new retained broking clients
- Puma Investments experienced increased private client asset inflows; growing recurring fees anticipated as new EIS and IHT offers gain momentum
- Puma VCT 10 closed achieving the largest fundraising of its kind in the tax year, accounting for over half of all limited-life VCT funds raised
Commenting on the results, Howard Shore, Executive Chairman, said:
“Notwithstanding favourable market conditions in the period, we have taken advantage of the trading environment to develop our business. It is therefore pleasing to have effectively matched 2013’s full year profit levels in the first half of 2014.
Our success is evidenced by higher profile, higher value ECM mandates, where we have participated in over £1.5 billion of fundraisings during the year; the heightened esteem in which our excellent research and sales teams are held by clients; and increased inflows into our expanded range of investments aimed at private clients.
Looking forward to the full year, whilst the impact of geopolitical uncertainty on sentiment cannot be ignored, we remain optimistic about the momentum within our businesses.”