St Helen’s Capital plc / Index: PLUS / Sector: Finance
St Helen’s Capital Plc (“St Helen’s” or “the Company”)
Interim Results
St Helen’s Capital Plc, the PLUS-quoted specialist small-cap institutional broker, is pleased to announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 September 2007.
Financial Highlights:
- Profit before tax GBP 990,000 (H1 2006: loss of GBP 90,000)
- Earnings per share 2.5p (H1 2006: loss 0.5p)
- Underlying turnover increased by 460% to GBP 2.3m (H1 2006: GBP 0.5m)
- Net assets GBP 3.2m (2006: GBP 0.5m), including GBP 2.8m cash at bank after positive trading and an Institutional Placing in April of GBP 1.5m
- Acted as broker on GBP 140m of fund raisings for clients during the period
- Number of AIM listed clients increased to 9 and PLUS listed clients to 36
St Helen’s Chief Executive Ruari McGirr said, “St Helen’s is continuing to build both its business and presence in the small-cap arena by focusing on relationships and reputation. This is continuing to bear fruit, particularly with growing institutional investor relationships and the quality of companies and transactions we are handling. I am pleased with progress to date. We are involved in a number of very exciting opportunities both for our clients and for St Helen’s itself and I look forward to updating shareholders on developments over the coming months.”
For further information visit www.sthelenscapital.com or contact:
Mark Warde-Norbury St Helen’s Capital Plc Tel: 020 7628 5582
Ruari McGirr St Helen’s Capital Plc Tel: 020 7628 5582
Isabel Crossley St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477
Chairman’s Statement
The business continues to expand and St Helen’s is making excellent progress in becoming a significant small-cap focused institutional stock broker and financial adviser. We believe that the business undertaken this year has been of high quality and we continue to see good opportunities. We have also added some excellent new members to the Company and continue to look to build our team across Sales, Research and Corporate Finance.
The Company successfully completed a GBP 1.5m fundraising in March and we are delighted to welcome a number of institutional investors and market participants to our shareholder base, as well as appreciative of the continuing support of the existing shareholders.
New Business
In addition to consolidating our position as the leading PLUS markets adviser, the new management team has settled in well and has quickly developed a good flow of new AIM business, with nine AIM companies now engaged as retained clients. Our reputation continues to build and we are currently working on a number of exciting new issues and transactions.
In the last six months the Company has undertaken a number of primary and secondary fund raisings for AIM and PLUS listed clients, as well as completing and developing a number of off market, pre-IPO transactions.
The most substantial fundraising was for the Tanfield Group, the AIM listed, leading manufacturer of zero emission vehicles and powered access equipment, where in June St Helen’s was joint broker in raising over GBP 130m for the company and existing shareholders. In August, the Company also completed its first AIM IPO for Kurawood Plc, the modified wood manufacturer, with a GBP 5m fundraising.
In accordance with our stated business plan, we continue to focus on identifying small-cap businesses with growth potential and the opportunity to produce strong returns for investors. As a result of our successful fundraisings this year we are receiving strong feedback from the investor community which is endorsing our model.
Development of the Team
People are key to the success of St Helen’s and we have hired a number of additional small-cap, focused professionals to strengthen our ability to execute transactions, service clients and manage the development of the business. These include Andrew McLintock and Katie Ratner who have joined the Broking Team, Mark Anwyl and James Spinney in Corporate Finance and Will Barkes who has joined us to head Compliance and Operations.
We continue to recruit actively as the business grows and to examine strategic options to make step changes in the capabilities of St Helen’s.
Strategy
Our strategy of advising small-cap growth companies on, or intending to list on AIM or PLUS continues to be successful. St Helen’s has been and remains the pre-eminent adviser to PLUS companies ranging across several sectors. This is now being complemented by our growth in acting for larger, AIM listed companies.
We believe there are considerable opportunities in the under-serviced small-cap market and that, with our structure and expertise, we are well placed to take advantage of this.
Interim Results
The first half was a successful period for the company. Underlying turnover during the period increased by 450 % to GBP 2.3m (2006: GBP 0.5m). Pre-tax profitability has also increased markedly to GBP 1.0m (2006: loss of GBP 0.1m), the former included GBP 90,400 from investment and other income.
The net asset value at the end of September was GBP 3.2m. The increase from March’s figure of GBP 0.5m was a function of profitable trading and April’s institutional placing of GBP 1.5m. Cash stands currently at GBP 2.8m.
Additionally, St Helen’s holds a number of investments and options, mainly in the Company’s client base, the value of which was GBP 0.5m at the end of September Investment realisations, over the six months, generated GBP 300,000 in cash and GBP 57,000 in profit. GBP 80,000 of new investments have been made.
The Future
We have had an excellent first half of the current year and, although market conditions are more unsettled due to mainly macro economic factors, there is a good pipeline of new business as we continue to develop our strategy to become the broker of choice in the small-cap arena.
St Helen’s is working on a number of transactions and business opportunities that we believe will be attractive to our institutional investor base and further raise our profile. We have built a good foundation and have both the strategy and people in place to realise our objectives and to reward our own investors as well as service our clients and expanding network of corporate investors.
The Interim Results are unaudited and have not been reviewed by the Company’s auditors.
Profit and Loss Account
Six months ending Note 30 Sept 07 30 Sept 06
GBP GBP
Turnover 2,322,000 515,000
Operating costs (1,422,000) (607,600)
Operating profit/ (loss) 900,000 (92,600)
Investment and other income 1 90,400 3,000
Profit/ (Loss) before tax 990,400 (89,600)
Taxation 2 0 0
Profit/ (Loss) after tax 3 990,400 (89,600)
Earnings/ Loss per share 4 2.47p (0.46p)
Diluted earnings/ (loss) per share 2.30p (0.46p)
Weighted average shares in issue 40,059,195 19,365,100
Diluted weighted shares in issue 42,978,152 21,284,057
Statement of recognised gains and losses for the six months ended 30 September 2007
Profit/ (Loss) for the period 990,400 (89,600)
Unrealised deficit on quoted investments (500) (71,000)
Unrealised surplus/ (deficit) on quoted 88,400 (5,000)
options
Total recognised gains and losses relating 1,078,300 (165,600)
to the period
Balance Sheet as at 30 September 2007
Fixed Assets 26,500 0
Current Assets
Debtors 241,900 277,800
Investments 493,200 654,800
Cash at bank and in hand 2,824,600 100
3,559,700 932,700
Creditors due within one year 401,900 307,200
Net current assets 3,157,800 625,500
Total assets less current liabilities 3,184,300 625,500
Net Assets 3,184,300 625,500
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 2,120,700 1,094,300
Share premium account 1,163,800 408,400
Revaluation reserve 294,200 334,800
Other reserves 191,600 50,300)
Profit and loss account (586,000) (1,161,700)
Shareholders’ funds 3,184,300 625,500
Cash Flow Statement
Net cash inflow/ (outflow) from 5 1,090,200 (125,700)
operating activities
Return on investments and
servicing of finance
Interest received 38,000 -
Interest paid (200) (5,000)
Net cash inflow/ (outflow) for returns 37,800 (5,000)
on investments and serving of finance
Capital expenditure and financial
investment
Payments to acquire fixed assets (26,500) -
Payments to acquire investments (79,400) (100,000)
Receipts from sales of investments 307,200 13,400
Net cash inflow/ (outflow) for 201,300 (86,600)
capital expenditure
Financing
Issue of Ordinary Share Capital 1,510,000 219,000
Net cash inflow from financing 1,510,000 219,000
Increase in cash in the year 2,839,300 1,700
Notes
1. Investment and other income
Profit on disposal of investments 57,000 8,000
Interest receivable 38,100 -
Amounts written off investments (4,500) -
Interest payable (200) (5,000)
90,400 3,000
2. Taxation
At 31 March 07 the Company had trading losses available to carry forward of approximately GBP 1.5m.
3. Note of historical cost profits and losses
Reported profit/ (loss) on ordinary 990,400 (90,000)
activities before taxation
Realisation of investment gains of 86,900 11,000
previous years
Historical cost profit/(loss) on ordinary 1,077,300 (79,000)
activities before taxation
Historical cost profit/(loss) for the period 1,077,300 (79,000)
after taxation, extraordinary items and
dividends
4. Earnings per share
Total recognised gain/ loss per share 2.69p (0.86p)
Diluted total recognised gain/ loss 2.51p (0.86p)
per share
Due to losses incurred in H1 2006, the dilutive EPS calculation is showing a lower loss/share, making the options ‘anti-dilutive’; accordingly the diluted EPS and the basic EPS are the same.
5. Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash outflow from operating activities
Operating Profit/ (loss) 900,000 (92,600)
(Increase) in debtors (89,200) (72,700)
Increase in creditors due within 1 year 153,900 39,600
Share based payments expenses 125,500 -
Net cash inflow/ (outflow) from 1,090,200 (125,700)
operating activities
Mark Warde-Norbury
Chairman
7 November 2007 |
