3 October 2022

Peel Hunt Limited

("Peel Hunt")

Half Year Trading Update: Difficult markets but positioned for growth

Peel Hunt, a leading UK investment bank, today issues a trading update in respect of the six-month period ended 30 September 2022.

During the first half, we have continued to invest in our business and make significant progress against our strategic priorities. This has been achieved against the backdrop of historically low levels of capital markets activity persisting market-wide throughout the period. Group revenue for the period is expected to be approximately £40.5m as a result.

Progress across business divisions

In Investment Banking, we have continued to diversify our business by building out both our Advisory and Private Capital Markets capabilities. During the period we added 11 new retained corporate clients (including 4 in the FTSE 350), more than offsetting client losses in the period (including those resulting from M&A). We now have a retained corporate client base of 164 companies with an average market capitalisation of approximately £600m and spanning 10% of the FTSE 350 (35 FTSE 350 clients).

In Research and Distribution, demonstrating the quality of our offering, we were named Best UK Small & Midcap Broker in Institutional Investor's 2022 Europe Survey for the second year in a row and our research team was voted the No1 UK Small & Midcap Research team for the 6^th consecutive year.

In Execution Services, we continue to open up incremental, differentiated liquidity. Whilst trading volumes have remained much lower across the market, particularly in small-cap and AIM, our FTSE 350 and investment trusts trading books have performed in line with expectations.

Continued technology investment

Our investment in proprietary technology remains a key strategic focus and differentiator. In particular, our REX technology platform, which facilitates access to primary capital markets transactions for retail investors, continues to make good progress. REX is now being engaged by other investment banks on their capital markets fundraisings following a number of instructions to act on non-Peel Hunt transactions. REX is well placed to benefit from the findings of the Government's Secondary Capital Raising Review that was published during the period, and which recommends that issuers include existing retail shareholders in all capital raises. To support the next stage of its growth, we are actively engaged in establishing REX as a standalone business independent of Peel Hunt.

International expansion

We remain on track to launch Peel Hunt Europe towards the end of this financial year, with good progress ongoing with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in relation to our proposal to open an EU-wide platform based in Copenhagen. In addition, recognising its strategic importance, we have continued to strengthen our North American distribution capability with a number of key hires.

Outlook

As we head into our second half, the outlook for capital markets remains uncertain. Adverse geopolitical and macro-economic factors have continued to negatively impact markets. More recently, tightening of monetary policy and Government fiscal stimulus have further destabilised markets.

Notwithstanding this backdrop, we enter this period with a robust balance sheet and a strong regulatory capital position. When market activity levels normalise, we are well positioned for growth, taking advantage of our expanded footprint and the considerable operational leverage that we have built into the business.

Peel Hunt will announce half year results for the six month period ended 30 September 2022 on 1 December 2022. 

For further information, please contact:

Notes to editors

Peel Hunt is a leading specialist in UK Investment Banking, ranked number one broker for UK mid- and small-cap companies in Institutional Investor's 2022 Survey. Our purpose is to nurture and guide people through the evolution of business. We achieve this through a proven, joined-up approach that consistently delivers value to UK corporates, global institutions and trading counterparties alike.

We have 164 corporate clients (including 35 in the FTSE 350), with an average market capitalisation of approximately £600m. Our award-winning research is distributed to over 1,235 institutions across the UK, Europe and US. Our trading platform makes markets in over 10,000 instruments on over 45 markets and is an increasingly important provider of trade execution services to UK retail platforms and brokers.