Investment banking and broking firm VSA Capital Group reported losses of £2.7m over the past year, falling from the £0.25m profit it made the prior year.
“There is no other way to say it, this year was horrendous,” said CEO Andrew Monk. “Our loss of £2.7m for the year was very disappointing and the working environment also became very unpleasant.
“Market conditions are the worst I have known in my 40 years working in the financial industry and, sadly, when times are tough some people show less honesty and integrity, which simply makes it harder for everyone, as it creates a lasting negativity even though they do not appreciate it at the time.”
Cash also fell 82% over the period, dropping from £1.27m to £229,000 as the company’s debts increased to £589,157.
Monk said: “Debtors have become an issue across the City, as many small companies struggle for cash as they cannot raise new equity; but in general payment is nearly always eventually recovered.”
He accredits much of the firm’s poor performance to the “terminal decline” of the UK equity market, which continues to suffer a high volume of outflows.
“It is incredible how London has been allowed to lose its international status as a premier stockmarket,” Monk added. “The UK Government has shown absolutely no understanding of its importance, and the relationship between strong stock markets and strong economies, which generate more tax receipts.”
Moving forward, VSA Capital Group will focus on assets within the mining sector, which Monk forecasts to have strong tailwinds over the coming years.
“These results are extremely disappointing, but they are also now in the past and we are on a much stronger footing,” he said.
“We believe that we are at the start of a huge bull market in commodities for the next 3-5 years and this will give us a fantastic macro environment for us to deliver significantly better results in 2024, although the world is still a very uncertain place with changing politics globally, wars that never seem to end and a brewing East/West cold war.”
