DANIEL STEWART SECURITIES PLC

("the Company")

(AIM: DAN)


INTERIM RESULTS


DANIEL STEWART SECURITIES PLC

(AIM: DAN)



INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

 

The Board of Daniel Stewart Securities plc ("Daniel Stewart" or "the Company") is pleased to announce its unaudited financial results for the six months to 30 September 2011.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

· Revenues: £3.6 million as against £3.5 million for the same period last year

· Net loss after tax but before retention payments and share based payments: £143,799 (H1 2010: profit of £190,572)

· Net assets: £5.9 million (£5.7 million at 30 September 2010)

· Cash: £0.9 million (£1.1 million at 30 September 2011)

· Adjusted EPS: (0.11)p per share (H1 2011: 0.04p per share)


OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

· £33 million raised for our corporate clients during the period (H1 2010: £39.9 million)

· 56 retained brokerships (H1 2010: 57)

· 11 transactions completed (H1 2010: 22)


The six months to September have been an extremely difficult time for the brokerage industry. Despite this we have continued to invest in our international development, with a particular focus on Asia. We are confident that this investment will assist in sustaining our business should the economic outlook in Western Europe remain bleak.

As part of this investment in Asia we announced, earlier in the year, that we have entered into a joint co-operation agreement with Clarkson Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Clarkson shipbrokers, jointly to produce and distribute research in the transportation and related services areas with a primary focus on Asia. This arrangement is progressing well and we believe it will prove to be a valuable partnership. We have already produced, and begun the distribution of, our first joint research products.

Although we have been investing in our business and markets have been hostile for the period we are still disappointed to have returned a small loss. Whilst our first quarter started well with the completion of a number of transactions, the majority of which had been sourced overseas, the second quarter, July 1st to September 30th, however proved to be particularly slow as to completions. We can however attribute much of this to timing differences rather than lack of pipeline, the newly sourced international transactions simply taking longer to execute than similar UK or European transactions. Since the end of H1 we have seen a number of transactions complete, including several successful IPO's from Asia, which we had originally anticipated completing pre September 30th and, as such, we are very confident about a positive outcome for the year.

We have made significant progress in the development of our Far East business and expect to open an office in Hong Kong during the 1st quarter of 2012 subject to regulatory approvals. We continue to generate business from the region with further planned IPO's expected to be completed before our financial year ends.

Our Wealth Management business has continued to perform well and we have added additional clients continuously throughout the period.

Revenue for the period increased slightly from £3.5m to £3.6m. Costs associated with our international development were a little higher than planned and that combined with our staff retention plan and share based payments produced the reported loss. If adjusted, so that we can compare like for like, the loss would have been £143,799.

The Directors are pleased with the performance and are confident we will continue to finance our expansion plans from current cash flows, which will ultimately mean that we are well positioned to take advantage of the economic shift to the "east".

Enquiries:

Daniel Stewart Securities Plc
www.danielstewart.co.uk
Peter Shea, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 020 7776 6550

Arbuthnot Securities Ltd
James Steel/Ed Groome

Tel: 020 7012 2000

Tavistock Communications
Lydia Eades/Sonya Williams