Peel Hunt has posted a dip in revenues and profits in the six months to 28 September.

The group’s revenues were down 23.4% from £93.2m to £71.4m, whilst pre-tax profits fell from £56.6m to £29.5m.

The broker said that results were in line with expectations after the “exceptional trading and heightened market activity” during the height of the pandemic.

Steven Fine, the chief executive, said: “We continue to grow our number of retained Investment Banking clients and have a healthy deal pipeline with  a strong balance of transactions.”

“We’re well-positioned to execute our growth plans, which include opening a  European office to support our growing distribution franchise across the continent. We remain on track to deliver on our budget for the year.”

Loungers has revealed strong results as Covid restrictions were lifted.

The group posted £102m in revenues for the six months to October 3 and pre-tax profits of £12.8m.

Nick Collins, chief executive of Loungers commented on the growth and prospect of vaccine passports, saying: “I don’t think certification would be likely to applicable for us but I have to stress that it is completely unworkable for everyone in the sector.”

“Not only that, it’s a massive violation of civil liberties. It shouldn’t be something we are talking about.”

The bar and restaurant group has 184 sites and plans on opening an extra 13 by April 2022.

The FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday as fears around the impact of Omicron returned to markets following comments suggesting current vaccines may not be effective against the new variant.

In a broad risk-off move the FTSE 100 gave up 1% on Tuesday morning and European equities were also hit, whilst oil resumed a move to the downside.

85 of the 100 shares in the FTSE 100 were down at midday in London.

“The roller coaster ride has resumed on the financial markets with yesterday’s rally looking more like a break run between a double dip of losses,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Investors are now strapping themselves in for a volatile ride anxious for any further news which could lift sentiment or send it plunging again, such as the comments from Moderna’s chief executive that current vaccines will struggle with Omicron because of the high level of mutations on the spike protein.”

“It’s not known just how less effective they may be, and the waiting game continues as scientists scramble to assess the new variant, but amid this state of uncertainty, nervousness is high.”

Volatility

Today’s volatility comes just a day after strong gains in shares on optimism the new variant would be milder than the Delta variant.

Without substantial data yet on the infectiousness of Omicron, markets are likely to remain volatile in the short terms as investors sell any signs of uncertainty.

Uncertainty is also impacting the behaviour of consumers; Easyjet released full year results and said it was already seeing passengers transfer flights booked for Q1.

Easyjet revealed the impact of Omicron alongside a £1.1 billion pretax loss, sending shares 3% lower.

FTSE 100 airliner IAG was also 2% weaker in a market with few gainers. One such gainer was Polymetal who benefited from risk aversion.

Topps Tiles has reported record revenues and a growth in sales for the past year.

Although the stores were closed amid the lockdowns earlier this year, Topps Tiles saw a strong demand and sales grow.

Like-for-like sales were up 19.6% whilst pre-tax profit jumped from £3.6m to £15.3m in the 53 weeks ending 2 October.

Rob Parker, the group’s chief executive, commented: “Our full year results demonstrate the strength of our position as the UK’s leading tile specialist and the potential of the business when it has been able to trade without restriction.  Despite significant disruption for a three month period, during which our stores were unable to welcome homeowners, we delivered record revenues for the year and made good progress towards our ‘1 in 5 by 2025’ market share goal.

“We believe this performance underlines the strength of our strategy and the success of new initiatives including the expansion of our value ranges and the introduction of innovative new products.  The successful development of our digital offer during the year has been particularly pleasing and we have plans in place to expand this further in 2022.

“Trading in the initial weeks of the new financial year has been robust with two-year Retail like-for-like sales growth of 18.4%.  While trading headwinds are likely to continue over the short term, we are confident in our strategy and our ability to deliver sustainable long term growth.”

Revenues at Wise soared 33% to £256.3m in the first half of the year.

The money transferring service has seen a growth of people using its quick services to transfer money, 40% of transfers were instant in the past three months.

Over the past three months, Wise said that 3.9 million customers transferred over £34bn, which is a 44% increase.

“Each quarter we strive to make progress on this mission. Over the first half of this year we’ve improved our products and engineered away substantial points of friction in the payments process, enabling us to sustainably lower prices while continuing to invest in growing the business for the long term,” said Kristo Käärmann, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.

“So a virtuous circle of investment continues, and our service gets faster, better and cheaper than ever for our personal and business customers. Whilst we have made significant progress, millions of people and businesses continue to be overcharged
and poorly served by banks and other payment providers.”

Marston’s has reported a 22% fall in revenue £402m amid Covid disruptions.

However, the pub group has said that trading is back on track since lockdown measures have eased.

Like-for-like sales have jumped 102% since July, which is when most measures eased. The group is still in loss though and posted a pre-tax loss of £17.1m. This is compared to the £388.7m loss a year prior.

“While there are still some challenges to navigate over the months ahead, we believe the worst of the pandemic is now behind us and Marston’s has emerged a stronger, more focused business which is in great shape,” said chief executive, Andrew Andrea.