Interim Results
Numis Corporation PLC
10 May 2001
Embargoed for release at 07:00 am Thursday 10 May 2001
NUMIS CORPORATION PLC
Interim results for the 6 months ended 31 March 2001
* Profit before tax for the 6 months to 31 March 2001 was £1.7 million,
compared with £2.5 million (before exceptional items), achieved in more
buoyant market conditions last year
* The number of sectors in which we provide research, market-making and
broking services have increased significantly
* The Company raised a total £82 million for listed and unlisted clients
* The opening of our first regional office in Liverpool has helped
expand our range of sectors
* Net assets rose from £12.5m at our year end to £13.8m
Chief Executive's Comments
Oliver Hemsley said:
'During our first financial year of operation as Numis Corporation, we are
concentrating on laying sound foundations for our future development. In that
context, and in the light of the more challenging market conditions this year,
this was an acceptable result.
Whilst we remain cautious in these conditions, the second half has started
satisfactorily. In the short term, we are bearing the increased costs of our
investment in new staff and facilities but I am confident that these will be
outweighed by the benefits of building a stronger business for the future'
For further information please contact:
Oliver A Hemsley Chief Executive Numis Corporation Plc 020 7776 1500
Tom Wyatt Financial Dynamics 020 7269 7204
Chairman's Statement
I am pleased to report a sound first half to our financial year against a
background of more challenging market conditions and an increase in investment
in both staff and facilities. We have had some notable successes during this
period and have laid the foundations for future growth.
The Group made a profit before tax of £1.7m in the 6 months to 31 March 2001
(compared with £2.5m before tax and before an exceptional gain for the 6
months to 31 March 2000). Although profits were below those of the
corresponding period last year, they showed an improvement on the previous six
months to 30 September 2000. Basic earnings per share were 7.9p and net
assets rose from £12.5m at our year end to £13.8m excluding any value
attributable to our 100,000 London Stock Exchange plc shares.
Key milestones
Our achievements during the period include the following:
* The raising of £82m for listed and unlisted companies, including a
further £40m for Tenon Group PLC.
* A broadening of the sectors where we specialise to include
financials, insurance, retail, food manufacturing, support services and
biotechnology.
* An increase in research output, particularly from our new colleagues
in our first regional office in Liverpool.
* The expansion of our market making activities so that we now make
markets in over 100 stocks mirroring the expansion of our research
function.
Liverpool office
In January 2001 we announced that we had opened our first regional office and
welcomed a highly rated team of analysts and sales people. We are delighted
that our new colleagues have been able to make a positive impact on the Group
so soon after joining and that the new specialist sectors have complemented
our existing ones.
Outlook
Much comment has been made regarding the difficulties currently facing
investment banking organisations such as ourselves in the light of recent
stockmarket weakness and the drying up of the IPO market, especially for
technology companies. Whilst we cannot pretend to be immune from such
influences, we have some measure of protection given that we operate in a
diverse range of sectors.
The Group's investment in high quality analytical coverage of a discrete
number of specialist sectors is expected to lead to an increase in corporate
finance mandates as well as growth in trading and commission income. We
continue to seek innovative projects to which our skills can be applied across
both existing sectors and new ones. A number of such projects are currently
under development which should come to fruition over the next year.
Quieter market conditions are creating opportunities to expand the business
organically and we intend to take advantage of the current slowdown through
the acquisition of new teams and individuals. There are short term cost
implications associated with this strategy but we believe that they will be
outweighed by the benefits of a stronger business for the future.
D J A Craig
9 May 2001
Consolidated profit and loss account
Unaudited results for the first half year ended 31 March 2001
6 months 6 months Year ended
ended ended 30 September
31 March 31 March 2000
2001 2000 Audited
Unaudited Unaudited
£ £ £
Turnover
Continuing operations 4,737,510 5,016,782 9,405,277
Discontinued operations - 2,000,057 2,345,089
4,737,510 7,016,839 11,750,366
Discontinued operations
- shared commissions - (406,454) (612,881)
Gross profit 4,737,510 6,610,385 11,137,485
Administrative expenses
Continuing operations (3,424,494) (2,664,635) (5,167,406)
Discontinued operations - (1,645,016) (2,407,634)
Share of associate's operating 214,331 102,411 107,500
profit
Operating profit/(loss)
Continuing operations 1,527,347 2,454,558 4,345,371
Discontinued operations - (51,413) (675,426)
- 2,403,145 3,669,945
Exceptional item - 2,025,000 1,958,431
Interest income 155,508 107,553 303,156
Investment income 21,408 33,180 41,362
Interest payable and similar - (4,584) (9,504)
charges
Profit on ordinary activities 1,704,263 4,564,294 5,963,390
before taxation
Tax on profit on ordinary (526,916) (1,243,352) (1,840,390)
activities
Profit on ordinary activities 1,177,347 3,320,942 4,123,000
after taxation
Earnings per share
Basic 7.9p 22.6p 27.9p
Diluted 7.6p 22.2p 26.9p
Earnings per share,
pre-exceptional item
Basic 7.9p 11.8p 18.2p
Diluted 7.6p 11.6p 17.5p
Consolidated balance sheet
Unaudited as at 31 March 2001
31 March 31 March 30 September
2001 2000 2000
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
£ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 408,319 197,652 164,543
Fixed asset investments 1,044,095 592,222 592,222
Investment in associated 300,475 123,968 129,010
undertaking
1,752,889 913,842 885,775
Current assets
Debtors 15,813,675 20,474,195 16,719,216
Investments 7,244,640 3,158,612 7,294,488
Cash at bank and in hand 817,524 2,074,374 4,024,693
23,875,839 25,707,181 28,038,397
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year (11,792,648) (14,376,218) (16,428,689)
Net current assets 12,083,191 11,330,963 11,609,708
Net assets 13,836,080 12,244,805 12,495,483
Capital and reserves
Share capital 3,786,750 3,736,500 3,748,000
Share premium account 3,175,925 3,014,625 3,051,425
Profit and loss account 6,873,405 5,493,680 5,696,058
Shareholders funds 13,836,080 12,244,805 12,495,483
Notes
Accounting policies
The accounting policies that have been applied to the unaudited results are
consistent with the latest published audited accounts.
Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share is based on profit on ordinary activities after
taxation of £1,177,347 (2000: £3,320,942 adjusted to £3,314,432 to remove
dividends held in the Employee Share Option Trust) on a weighted average
number of ordinary shares in issue during the period of 14,875,833 (2000:
14,705,000). Diluted earnings per share assumes that options outstanding at
the end of the financial period were exercised at the beginning of the
financial period where the exercise price per share is less than the fair
value of the price of the share in the period.
Dividend
The Group will pay no interim dividend (2000: Nil), as usual.
Investments
Investments include £5,158,877 invested in a Royal Bank of Scotland
International money market fund that is a quoted non-trading book investment.
Audited results
The audited results for the year ended 30 September 2000 are an extract from
the latest published audited accounts and do not constitute the statutory
accounts as defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The published
audited accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and
included the report of the auditors that was unqualified.
Further copies
Copies of the interim statement will be sent to shareholders over the next few
days. Copies of this announcement are available free of charge for one month
from:
The Company Secretary
Numis Corporation Plc
Cheapside House
138 Cheapside
London EC2V 6LH