Losses at investment bank Peel Hunt more than doubled last year despite the lender predicting the first signs of a “recovery” in London’s barren IPO market.
The London-listed lender said this morning it slipped deeper to a £3.3m loss in the year to March, up from a £1.5m loss in 2023, with “continued cost pressures” to blame for offsetting a 4.3 per cent rise in revenues to £85.8m.
Peel Hunt has been among a host of mid market investment banks and brokers to swing to a loss amid a downturn in capital markets activity over the past two years as firms shun the public markets. Just 23 firms floated on the London Stock Exchange, down some 60 per cent on an already quiet 2022.
However, in a statement today chief Steven Fine said the market was now showing signs of life.
“We are seeing tentative signs that a recovery from the lows of the last two years is underway, and we are delighted to have supported two clients with their initial public offerings on the London market as announced this month,” Fine said.
Whilst the IPO market has “not yet fully re-opened”, UK investors are “increasingly receptive to high quality companies”, he added.
Steadier markets and a rebound in deal making helped push up revenues in the company’s investment banking division, rising from £23.4m to £32.6m.
“Public M&A is highly active across the market as bid activity in respect of undervalued UK assets continues,” the firm said.
The bank described an exodus of firms leaving the UK market as “an ongoing challenge”, pointing to the flood of firms to have been snapped up or ditched their listings this year.
Over £100bn worth of companies have now ditched their listings or been taken over in the first half of the year, according to Peel Hunt’s own analysis.