Westhouse upbeat as IPO interest strengthens

BROKER Westhouse, which has a Yorkshire office, today reported pre-tax profits and increased annual turnover following its first period of trading on the Alternative Investment Market.

Hanson Westhouse was bought by emerging market equity finance house SovGEM last year in a reverse takeover deal.

Westhouse is an independent, specialist corporate broking and advisory firm, formed in 2006 from the merger of corporate finance firms Hanson Capital – created by the families of the late Yorkshire business legends Lord Hanson and Lord White – and Westhouse Securities.

For the year ended December 31, 2009, Westhouse’s net assets increased to £6.85m from £1.98m.

Turnover improved by 6.7% to £4.78m, while profit before tax and gain on acquisition was £1.12m compared to a £610,000 loss in 2008.

Chief executive William Staple said: “2009 has been a year of considerable change for Westhouse, a reflection of our ambition to grow the business by expanding our established areas of expertise and also by developing new activities, while at the same time retaining a strong balance sheet.

“The improvement in sentiment we saw developing in the second half of last year has continued. We are beginning to see renewed interest in the IPO market with a number of potential transactions in prospect. 

“We are also seeing more merger and acquisition advisory opportunities. Although it is still early to predict performance for the rest of this year, the outlook is encouraging, particularly taking into account the initiatives the board has taken to strengthen and diversify the business.”

SovGEM is trading on AIM following the reverse takeover as Westhouse Holdings.