Bosses cautious even as oil boosts revenues at TP ICAP

Bosses at TP ICAP painted contrasting pictures as they remained cautious in the face of global uncertainty despite favourable conditions creating what analysts hailed as a strong set of numbers.

The city firm, which acts as a broker for dealers, said its energy and commodities business pulled off an excellent quarter, growing revenue 24% over the period.

The area benefited from good economic conditions, especially in oil, where the price of international standard Brent crude remained low over the period. Overall revenue rose 17%.

“Today’s strong trading update demonstrates that TP ICAP’s trading portfolio is well placed to capitalise on volatile macro market conditions,” said chief executive Nicolas Breteau.

But the company remained cautious about the months ahead as it warned that uncertainty could hit its volumes.

“Despite a strong performance in the third quarter, our full year guidance of low single-digit revenue growth on a constant currency basis remains unchanged. We also highlight current geopolitical uncertainties which may have an impact on transaction volumes in the fourth quarter,” it said in a statement to shareholders.

Vivek Raja and Paul McGinnis, analysts at Shore Capital, said trading over the third quarter was “strong”.

“We expect the share price to respond positively to this update, despite the caution in the outlook and sharp recent recovery from August lows,” they said before markets opened on Friday.

Aafter a brief dip, shares rose by 3.85% to 356.1p.

It comes weeks after TP ICAP was fined £15.4 million for improper trades by the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA said that between 2008 and 2010 management at Tullett Prebon, now a part of TP ICAP, ignored “obvious red flags” that its brokers were behaving badly.