Peel Hunt set for smaller-than-expected loss despite challenging UK markets

London investment bank Peel Hunt said it is set for a smaller-than-expected loss for the past year despite a “challenging” six months.

The brokerage is among City firms to have faced pressure from a weak appetite for deal-making and geopolitical uncertainty over the past year.

The company told shareholders that it saw a “challenging second half with a number of macro-economic events that weighed on market volumes and corporate activity”.

Nevertheless, Peel Hunt said group revenues are expected to have risen by around 5% to roughly £90 million for the year to March 31.

The firm said this came as it “made good progress” on delivering its strategy for the financial year.

“Notably, we continued to attract high quality mid-cap and growth companies to the franchise and we now act for 52 FTSE 350 clients, including five FTSE 100 companies,” the company said.

On Tuesday, the group also said it is set to have delivered “a smaller loss before tax than market expectations” after taking action to reduce costs.

Bloomberg reported last week that it is cutting around 10 jobs due to continued challenges in the UK financial markets.

However, Peel Hunt said in its fresh update that it has an “encouraging pipeline of investment banking transactions across both mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs (initial public offerings) despite the backdrop of “slow market conditions”.

It said it expects a number of already announced deals to complete over the next three months.

Shares in the group moved 0.6% higher in early trading.