Interim turnaround at Fiske
Article Date: Feb 05 2010Broker Fiske is cautious about the stockmarket outlook after turning a £139,000 first half loss into £286,000 pre-tax profits.
The AIM-quoted company increased gross fee and commission income by 25 per cent to £2 million in the six months to November, chiefly thanks to improved stockmarket conditions, and total revenue after expenses rose 30 per cent to nearly £1.7 million. In a recovery which began in the second half of the year to last May, interim losses of 1.7p a share turned into earnings of 2.5p.
Chairman and substantial shareholder Clive Harrison says Fiske’s expansion as a fund manager is ‘on track’, with additional funds attracted, and stresses last April’s £210,000 purchase of specialist bond manager Vor Financial has been a success. But he is distinctly less sanguine about the equity market’s longer-term prospects.
‘The economy remains close to recession’, he warns. On the Bank of England’s newly-suspended ‘quantitative easing' policy, he comments ‘printing money by the authorities does wonders for asset bubbles, but rather less for the real economy. One day this year the printing will have to end. That will present a real challenge to the markets’.
Fiske shares, which have traded between 75.5p and 53.5p over the past 12 months, now change hands at 69.5p, down 1p this morning. That values the company at £5.9 million.
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