Surge in flotations lifts Numis The pipeline of stock market floats remains full well into the first and second quarters of next year, said Oliver Hemsley, chief executive of Numis, the broker that on Tuesday posted a fivefold increase in annual pre-tax profits. Numis said its revenues had risen 55 per cent to £78m in the year to September as a result of the marked improvement in investor confidence in equities and financial markets. The company was busier this year than it had ever been before, it said. It brought seven new companies to the stock market, including Foxtons and Esure, helped a further 31 companies issue equity and raised a total of £2.2bn, against £717m last year. The broker, which specialises in UK markets, also won 28 new corporate clients, bringing its clients base to 156. The company now advises 32 companies listed on the FTSE 250 index of medium-sized and bigger businesses, up from four in 2007. Revenues from advising on corporate transactions were up 75 per cent to £33.5m. Meanwhile, commission from trading shares rose 50 per cent to £37.2m, the highest level in the broker's history. Numis has recovered sharply since the market's nadir of 2007, and last year profits before tax rose to £22.6m from £4.1m the year before. Earnings per share rose from 3.2p to 16.9p. The company's cash balances almost doubled to £71m during the year, with £12m from shares in Abbey Protection, the small-cap insurer that is being bought and which Numis held in its own investment portfolio. Mr Hemsley said there were no plans at the moment to spend the cash, other than to pay a dividend. He said it was important to have a strong balance sheet to support the group during future downturns, pointing out that revenues could fall as quickly as they had risen if market confidence reversed. Eighteen months ago the company made a pre-tax loss of £1.1m in its first six months. Mr Hemsley added that there was still an oversupply of brokers vying to advise companies on transactions. Several of Numis's rivals have struggled this year. Seymour Pierce was bought out of administration in February and Oriel Securities received a cash injection from Canadian Bank CIBC four months ago. The company is proposing to lift the final dividend by 1p to 5p, taking the total year's payout to 9p (8p). The shares, which were up 61 per cent in 2012 and are up another 150 per cent since January, rose 2 per cent to 295p yesterday to value the company at £335m.