finnCap Reports Record Year

May 24, 2017 / Blog

finnCap, the fast-growing corporate broker and adviser to ambitious companies, enjoyed another successful 12 months and - despite a year of political upheaval and unexpected election results - we've recorded record turnover and profits. This performance is a testament to our focus on client service.

Our mission is to help ambitious companies grow. With these finnCap results, we were therefore particularly proud to see our client share prices increase by an average of 170 per cent since appointing finnCap as broker.

Continued growth

During the year, finnCap added more new and exciting growth companies to its list of corporates. These now number 121, establishing finnCap as the clear market leader for broking services to ambitious companies. We also maintained our leading positions in the technology and life sciences sectors.

The period culminated in passing a significant milestone: £2 billion of new capital raised to support corporate clients since inception. This year we raised a total of £363 million for companies such as Proactis, Nasstar, Horizonte Minerals, Ideagen and Seeing Machines. finnCap has also been involved in the IPOs of Tax Systems, Anglo African Oil & Gas, Van Elle, K3 and Velocity Composites; the appetite for these fundraisings has been far higher than in previous years, which bodes well for the health of the IPO market.

finnCap also advised on a number of significant transactions. We worked with Red24 on its cash acquisition by iJet, who paid a 54.6% premium to the three-month share price, and ServicePower, who was acquired by a private equity firm for a 129% premium to the pre-bid price. We also advised Avesco on its takeover by NEP Group, valuing the business at £124 million, and Constellation Healthcare, which was taken private in a £247 million deal.

Expert advice

Since our original buy-out in 2007, finnCap has been employee-owned, allowing us to create a collegiate and inclusive culture, focused on long-term relationships with clients. We have an unwavering commitment to client service and aim to provide quality, independent and trusted advice to both public and private companies.

This is also an environment that continues to attract high-quality employees. During the year, we continued to hire outstanding people, including:

  • Emily Morris, Director Corporate Broking from GMP Securities
  • Jeremy Grime, Director, Research from Panmure Gordon
  • Richard Chambers, Executive, Corporate Broking from UBS
  • William Marle and Jonny Hewitson, Managing Directors from Edmund de Rothschild Investment Trusts
  • Philippa Robinson, Director, Corporate Finance from Liberum

As previously announced, we are also delighted to welcome prominent entrepreneur Vin Murria as a strategic adviser to the Board; she has taken a significant stake in the business.

Innovative services

We continued to invest in our business and introduce innovative ways to help companies to grow and fulfil their ambitions. This year, we launched our Investment Trusts business focusing on alternatives funds, under the guidance of William Marle and Johnny Hewitson. We also saw further growth from finnVentures, our division aiming to source scale-up capital of between £2 million and £10 million for private businesses. We raised $18 million for Inspecs, £5 million for My 1st Years and £4.5 million for Direct Response.

Philippa Robinson was appointed to head up a new service dedicated to finding, approaching and executing acquisition opportunities for our corporate clients. And we launched the finnCap Slide Rule - a quantitative analysis tool for companies with a market capitalisation between £50 million and £2 billion.

Joining the conversation

We launched the AIM High campaign last year, with events in London and across the country, with the aim of ensuring entrepreneurs understand the opportunities that IPOs can provide. This campaign has been supported by a number of highly successful entrepreneurs, fund managers and advisers and we will be continuing with further events throughout the year. We have supported this campaign with a series of breakfasts based on sector themes and issues, including the Female Founders Forum, which aims to enable more female CEOs to scale up using growth capital.

There are clear challenges ahead, with a general election on the horizon, Brexit negotiations to tackle and the implementation of MiFID II to consider. Notwithstanding these issues, the macro environment remains robust and the London market is particularly receptive to deploying growth capital for both public and private companies. As a new breed of entrepreneurs comes to the fore and the financial world continues to change, clients are looking for trustworthy, independent and competent advice from a blue-chip partner. finnCap is well positioned to provide this.

Notes to Editors:  About finnCap

finnCap is a leading independent broker to ambitious companies, the top adviser on AIM and the largest adviser on the LSE. The team has a strong track record in advising and raising capital, providing research and dedicated aftermarket care. finnCap has over 120 corporate clients and has raised over £2bn of capital for its clients since inception and advised on c.£1bn of M&A.

More information can be found at www.finncap.com or on Twitter @finncap

finnCap                                                                                              020 7220 0500

Sam Smith, Chief Executive

Jon Moulton, Chairman

Redleaf Communications

Charlie Geller                                                                                    020 7382 4730