# Cavendish Scraps Co-CEO Structure as First-Half Loss and 20% Revenue Drop Hit AIM Bank

> Cavendish dropped its co-CEO structure and interim dividend after a near £500k pre-tax loss and a 20% revenue fall to £22.9m in the six months to September.

- Published: 2026-11-11T07:51:09+00:00
- Section: Earnings & Results
- Author: News Desk
- URL: https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-11-11/cavendish-ends-co-ceo-first-half-loss
- Source: [CityAM](https://www.cityam.com/cavendish-scraps-co-chief-executive-regime-as-it-swings-to-loss/)

## Key takeaways

- Cavendish made a pre-tax loss of near £500k in the six months to September, reversing a £1m profit a year earlier.
- Revenue fell 20% to £22.9m, with deal fees down to £12.4m and private market transactions down 44%.
- Julian Morse becomes sole chief executive after John Farrugia stepped down from the role and the board.
- The bank plans to cut annual costs by £3m over six months, with around £2m from employee changes.

Cavendish scrapped its co-chief executive structure and its interim dividend after swinging to a pre-tax loss of near £500k in the six months to September, the AIM-listed investment bank said. [CityAM](https://www.cityam.com/cavendish-scraps-co-chief-executive-regime-as-it-swings-to-loss/) reported the loss reverses a £1m profit in the same period last year.

## Morse Takes Sole Charge At Cavendish

[Cavendish Corporate Finance](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000xvzk/cavendish-corporate-finance) is a London-based investment bank that specialises in deals on London's junior AIM market. Revenue fell 20 per cent to £22.9m, while deal fees tumbled to £12.4m. Private market transactions dropped 44 per cent and public transactions 25 per cent.

Julian Morse, who was appointed joint chief in 2023, will remain as the firm's only top boss. Former co-chief executive John Farrugia will step down from his role and the board. The bank introduced plans to cut annual costs by £3m over the next six months through restructuring and IT efficiencies, with around £2m of the savings expected to come from employee changes.

Cavendish also scrapped its interim dividend to preserve capital, following a 0.3p payout in the same period last year. Morse said: "Despite the slow start to the year with pressure on all businesses resulting from significant geopolitical and economic headwinds, we are increasingly seeing good prospects being generated from several areas of targeted investment in the prior periods." He said the group had a "healthy pipeline" of public and private transactions including "potential IPOs" for the next 12 months.

## How The 2023 Merger Built Cavendish

According to akta.pro [company records](https://akta.pro/company-data), finnCap merged with Cenkos in September 2023 to form the enlarged Cavendish Financial plc group, combining two mid-market UK investment banks. The same records show the joint CEO structure was established that month with John Farrugia and Julian Morse, alongside CFO Ben Procter and Chair Lisa Gordon, formalising Cenkos-side leadership integration after the merger. The board was reconstituted with Cenkos executives taking the CFO, Chair and Joint CEO roles.

## Cavendish's Research Calls Before The Results

In August 2026, Cavendish raised its price target for Optima Health to 302p and reiterated a buy rating after the company reported full-year adjusted EBITDA of £20.1 million, Proactiveinvestors reported. The same month, Cavendish reaffirmed a 'buy' rating on Caledonia Mining, citing a maiden 500,000-ounce resource at the Motapa property and a 22% resource increase at the Blanket mine to 2.2 million ounces. In September 2026, Cavendish raised its Chariot target price to 8.3p, citing a 390% upside after the energy group doubled its economic footprint in Angola.

## What Cavendish Says About The AIM Market

The bank said UK public markets had been "subdued" for the first six months. "AIM continued to experience low levels of new issuance and relatively weak secondary-market liquidity, reflecting persistent economic uncertainty constraining institutional demand," its report said. Cavendish added that UK equities remained "dominated" by the US-Iran conflict and supply disruption triggered by the Strait of Hormuz, and that the Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 last week in response to new inflationary pressures following the conflict.

## Companies in this story

- [Cavendish Corporate Finance company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000xvzk/cavendish-corporate-finance) · website: http://cavendish.com

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