Panmure Gordon : |  Final Results

24 March 2015

PANMURE GORDON & CO. PLC

('Panmure Gordon', the 'Group' or the 'Company')

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2014

Panmure Gordon & Co. plc, a leading independent institutional stockbroker and investment bank, today announces preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2014.

Financial highlights

• 84% increase in profit before tax to £2.15m (2013: £1.17m)
• 7.6% increase in net commission and fee income to £29.39m (2013: £27.32m)
• 630% increase in basic earnings per share to 9.64p (2013: 1.32p)
• Full year dividend of 2.5p per ordinary share (2013: nil)
• Debt-free balance sheet

Operational highlights

• Return to payment of dividends for first time since 2007 reflecting the Board's confidence for the future
• Helped to raise more than £0.8bn for our corporate clients
• Continued investment in key people/teams to drive future profitability

Chief Executive Phillip Wale commented:

'We are delighted that the business is consolidating its strong position for growth following a successful turnaround period. Despite difficult markets in the second half of the year revenue growth has been encouraging. The return to paying a dividend for the first time since 2007, the onset of the financial crisis, is a clear sign that the strategy executed over the recent years is successful. We remain firmly focused on serving our corporate and institutional clients and aligning our resources to profitable opportunities.

'Since the start of 2015, we have gained further corporate client appointments, won further transaction mandates and executed four significant fund raises already. We are optimistic that recent improved activity will continue and are pleased to be working on a healthy pipeline of engagements.Whilst difficult to forecast, equity capital markets are expected to remain receptive to high quality, sensibly priced transactions.With the support of our major shareholder, QInvest, Panmure Gordon is well-positioned to build on the achievements of 2014 and create meaningful upside for shareholders.'

Enquiries:

Panmure Gordon

Ed Warner, Chairman020 7886 2500

Phillip Wale, Chief Executive020 7886 2500

Buchanan

Mark Edwards/Helen Chan/Stephanie Watson020 7466 5000

panmure@buchanan.uk.com

GrantThorntonCorporate Finance (Nominated Adviser)

Philip Secrett/Salmaan Khawaja/Jen Clarke020 7383 5100

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

I am very pleased to report a robust operating performance in 2014 delivering an 86% increase in operating profit for the Panmure Gordon business of £2.16m (2013: £1.16m), and a return to dividend payments to shareholders after a seven year hiatus following the global financial crisis. The Board is encouraged that despite continued challenging markets, the successful reinvigoration of the Company under new leadership in recent years has established a solid foundation for the future.

Panmure Gordon is focused on its principal business of providing both outstanding, independent advice to our UK-listed corporate clients and those seeking a listing on the London markets, and excellent execution services to our institutional clients founded on insightful, actionable, independent research.

The decision in 2012 to withdraw from the Group's unsuccessful expansion into US investment banking is reflected in the absence of a discontinued business/operations charge for the first time in three years. More importantly, it has allowed management and staff to focus on building our core UK investment banking and stockbroking business.

At last year's Annual General Meeting, shareholders voted in favour of a share capital reduction which was duly approved by the High Court. This, combined with operating profits for the year, has enabled the Company to resume the payment of dividends and the Board is now pleased to recommend a 2.5p dividend per ordinary share for the year, subject to shareholder approval. In future, it is our intention to pay a progressive dividend, subject to maintaining a prudent level of cover from profits.

Panmure Gordon's reputation for integrity is built on its exceptional client-centric culture and its skill in connecting businesses with the capital that they need to thrive.This culture is embodied in Panmure Gordon's employees and on behalf of the Board I thank them for all their efforts in 2014, especially in supporting our clients in both good and challenging times.Our improved results in 2014 are a testament to their success.

Ed Warner, OBE

Chairman

23 March 2015

Chief Executive's review

I am happy to report the strong progress made in 2014 with significantly; increased operating profit from continuing operations of £2.16m (2013: £1.16m), driven by a 8% increase in net commission and fee income to £29.39m (2013: £27.32m), a much improved statutory profit after tax of £1.50m (2013:£0.21m), a strong corporate client list with 123 clients at the year-end (2013: 130), and appropriately aligned costs.

The executive team is focused on further strengthening, broadening and growing the business and while financial and political shocks continue to challenge financial markets, we take a long-term view and are committed to building a more resilient business to withstand those shocks.

Panmure Gordon's reputation for integrity, as spelt out in our statement of Values on page 4 of this report, helps us win and retain corporate clients - the lifeblood of our firm - and to attract talented people.We have hired selectively in all departments to support growth, diversify earnings and drive profitability.It is early stages for many of these new hires but we are excited by the progress achieved and the prospects for the future.

The firm and our clients benefited from markets which were more receptive to high quality transactions. This is reflected in a 14.4% uplift in corporate finance fee income to £20.70m (2013: £18.10m) from helping our clients raise in excess of £0.8bn (2013: £1.46bn) across 7 IPOs and 11 fundraisings. Achieving this result, despite the challenging markets that were faced in the second half of the year, is a testament to the stronger, more diverse and resilient business that is being built.

Panmure Gordon's securities business, comprising institutional equity sales and trading and market making, as well as thought-leading independent research, is essential to our client service offering.With an ever increasing, challenging regulatory environment, the commission paying market is being radically upset and a number of competitors have already experienced significant discomfort, some exiting completely. Panmure Gordon remains a full service integrated broker backed by independent research across a wide range of sectors and we are seeing institutions pay increasing attention to this as they face up to their own regulatory challenges.

While equity capital markets have been receptive to the many transactions on which the firm worked this year, the continued lack of volume in equity markets as well as volatile trading conditions resulted in a slight 4% decrease in net commission and trading income to £9.44m (2013: £9.80m).

Our institutional relationships are much valued. With hard work, strategic thinking and collaboration with our counterparts and affiliates in Qatar, Switzerland, Singapore, the US and India, we are well-placed to continue building revenue streams and executing superbly for our corporate and institutional clients.

Dividend

The Board is recommending a dividend of 2.5p per ordinary share (2013: nil). The dividend will be payable on 29May 2015 to all shareholders on the register at 4 May 2015, subject to shareholder approval.

Outlook

The hard work put in over the recent years has led to the stronger, broader based and more resilient business that we see today. Panmure Gordon is positioned to grow and we remain, as ever, firmly focused on serving our corporate and institutional clients and aligning our resources to profitable opportunities.

The return to paying dividends for the first time since 2007, the onset of the financial crisis, is a clear sign that the strategy executed over the recent years is successful and reflects our confidence in the future prospects for the business.

In 2015, we have gained further corporate client appointments, won further transaction mandates with four further significant fund raises executed already in the first quarter. We are pleased to be working on a healthy pipeline of engagements.Whilst difficult to forecast, equity capital markets are expected to remain receptive to high quality, sensibly priced transactions.With the support of our major shareholder, QInvest, Panmure Gordon is well positioned to build on the solid achievements of 2014.

Phillip Wale

Chief Executive

Key performance indicators

Financial

Operational

Consolidated income statement

For the year ended 31 December 2014

1Administrative expenses which total £27.2m (2013: £26.1m) have been presented separately here owing to their individual nature and size

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income & expense

For the year ended 31 December 2014

distributed by