UK stockbroker Numis expects full year revenues to keep sliding

LONDON (Reuters) - Stockbroker and corporate advisor Numis Corporation <NUM.L> said on Friday that it expected its full year revenues and profits to keep sliding as political uncertainty and tough market conditions persist.

London-based Numis estimated the revenue drop to be in the mid to high teens percentage compared to the prior year, while profit for the year ending on Sept. 30 would be hit by "a higher fall."

Numis, which is listed on AIM and has offices in New York, said its investment banking revenues had suffered from lower deal volumes, particularly at the larger end of the transaction size range.

"2019 was a challenging year," said the company's co-chief executive officers Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson, pointing to depressed activity levels across both the investment banking and equities divisions.

The company - which has 217 corporate clients, up from 210 at the start of the year - said revenues from private markets deals were a silver lining and helped offset the significant decline in UK listed capital markets activities.

Numis worked with Swedish fintech business Klarna on its $460 million fundraising which valued the business at $5.5 billion.

"Whilst prevailing market conditions are difficult, we have a very strong balance sheet," the co-CEOs said. "We will continue to focus on executing our long term strategy to build a more diversified investment banking business."

(Reporting By Pamela Barbaglia; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)