Interdealer broker sees profits knocked after £65m one-off charge

TP ICAP’S profits were dented after the interdealer broker booked a £65m one-off charge related to the writedown of assets as it announced that it has put in place contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit.

Following a review after its £1.3bn acquisition of ICAP two years ago, the firm wrote down the value of its Americas business by £58m and the Asia Pacific business by £7m.

The firm incurred a £44m cost last year related to the integration of ICAP and expects to book no more than £160m of total costs by the end of the integration process. Pre-tax profits at TP ICAP fell to £62m in 2018 from £72m the year earlier.

Nonetheless share rose 6.8 per cent to 324.1p in early trade as underlying pre-tax profits – before acquisition, disposal and integration costs, and one-off charges – increased to £245m from £233m.

Revenue rose 3 per cent to £1.76bn.

In his first set of full-year results since taking over the group last July, boss Nicolas Breteau said TP ICAP delivered “resilient” earnings and that his key priority has been to complete the Tullett Prebon and ICAP integration.

He said: “This combination enables the deepest and broadest pools of liquidity in the OTC (Over-The-Counter) market, which is a source of real value to our clients and our business.

“Whilst there is more work to do, real progress has been made with the integration in the past year.”

Mr Breteau added: “The political and economic environment continues to present us with both opportunities and challenges.”