Top Arden analyst to take over as chief

Jeremy Grime, the highly rated financial analyst at Arden Partners, will be able to put his recommendations into action after he was named chief executive at the stockbroker.
Arden Partners results - six months to April 30Sales Pre-tax loss Earnings per share Dividend
£6.49m (£0.24m) (1.7p) -
↑ 41% ↓ 13.7% ↑ 467% -

A board reshuffle will see Mr Grime take over the role by the end of the year from Jonathan Keeling, who will become deputy chairman with responsibility to develop Arden’s Indian business.

Howard Flight, the former Guinness Flight executive and Conservative MP, has become senior independent non-executive in place of Philip Dayer. Mr Grime has led Arden’s financials team since 2007 and was recently voted number one in the Extel analyst rankings.

The shake-up came as Arden announced a pre-tax loss for the six months to April 30. Revenue rose 41 per cent to £6.49m ($9.61m), but pre-tax losses narrowed from £278,000 to £240,000. Losses per share widened from 0.3p to 1.7p. Arden will not pay an interim dividend; the shares closed unchanged at 88½p.

Mr Keeling will focus on expanding Arden’s foothold in the Indian market. The group is broker to seven Indian-focused, London-listed companies including Great Eastern Energy, Hardy Oil & Gas and KSK Power Ventur.

“The opportunities coming out of India are immense,” he said.

Revenue from Arden’s corporate finance division rose from £2.4m to £2.9m after advising on six mergers and acquisitions deals. The group’s equities business saw revenue rise 63 per cent to £3.6m after beefing up headcount by more than a third.

FT Comment

Mr Grime will take over a business in better shape than a year ago when six months of financial turmoil left many small-cap stockbrokers facing an uncertain future. But it will not be plain sailing – corporate activity is still muted but the broker has used its strong balance sheet to grab staff and clients. That move is likely to increase regular revenues and cushion the dearth of flotations. Analysts are forecasting full-year pre-tax profits of £1.5m from revenue of £15.5m but a couple of client wins from India could change growth prospects. In 2007 Arden made profits of £5.5m from revenue of £16.8m and paid a dividend. The shares trade on a forward price/earnings ratio to October of 33 times, which is ahead of rivals and expensive enough for now.