OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2016. Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, today announced its IFRS financial results for the first six months of 2016.

During the reporting period, the Firm demonstrated resilience to challenging market conditions in its core geographies, delivering a net profit of \\$2.7mn. Total operating income reached \\$64.2mn.

In 1H 2016, the Firm continued to reduce its operating costs, with total operating expenses decreasing by 20% year-on-year to \\$59mn compared to \\$73.7mn in 1H 2015.

Despite volatile and weak macroeconomic conditions in emerging and frontier markets, Renaissance Capital successfully completed a number of significant transactions during the reporting period.

In May 2016, the Firm concluded its first equity placement on the Egyptian Stock Exchange through an EGP 257mn accelerated book build of Cr?dit Agricole Egypt SAE shares on behalf of El Mansour & El Maghraby Investment and Development Company. The share placement was executed at the top of the price range, with the issue being significantly oversubscribed and substantial participation from a diverse pool of investors.

In June 2016, Renaissance Capital successfully concluded the largest East African rights issue to-date, placing KES 26.5bn of shares of Kenyan Electricity Generating Company on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

Among other significant transactions, the Firm acted as a joint lead manager of the debut Eurobond placement of Russia’s State Transport Leasing Company, delivering a five-times subscribed book that drew substantial support from international investors.

This successful track record is a testament to the Firm’s ability to unlock opportunities in emerging and frontier markets for international investors and deliver value for its clients even against a backdrop of market cycles.

Renaissance Capital’s strong research capabilities were reflected in its ranking as the No. 1 Frontier Markets brokerage firm in the Extel Survey 2016. Charles Robertson, Global Chief Economist, and Mark Reed, Global Head of Sales and Trading, were top-ranked in the “Frontier Markets” and “Russia: trading & execution” categories respectively, underlining the Firm’s leading position in emerging and frontier research space.

During the first half of the year, Renaissance Capital continued to organise a number of investor conferences in its core markets. The Firm celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Annual Russia Investor Conference in Moscow with around 250 global investors and executives attending the well-established forum. The Firm held its 7th Annual Pan-Africa conference in Lagos, and organised the inaugural Egypt Corporate Access Day in Cape Town. In addition, Renaissance Capital brought Pakistani companies to meet international investors in London for the first time in May 2016.

Anthony Simone, Acting CEO, Renaissance Capital, commented: “The first half of 2016 proved that Renaissance Capital’s strategy is designed to deal with market turbulence, as we managed to decrease our operating costs and complete a number of important transactions, including in new frontier markets. Our goal remains to stay at the forefront of the emerging and frontier universe, offering best in class fully-fledged investment banking services.

I am pleased to see a consistent recognition of our deep specialist knowledge of emerging markets, which is highly valued by our clients across the world.

Looking forward, we will continue to utilise our experience built over the past two decades to navigate through the volatile market cycles. As macroeconomic conditions in emerging and frontier markets improve, we believe that the Firm is well-placed to take advantage of the recovering investor sentiment and will work towards strengthening its leading positions across core geographies.”