Cenkos faced embarrassment on Wednesday when it was forced to admit that the regulator hasn’t approved its new chief executive.
The broker, which has led several high profile but not entirely successful floats such as the AA and Quindell, said last November it was bringing back former CEO Jim Durkin to lead the firm.
Durkin has a 9% stake in Cenkos and was supposed to replace Anthony Hotson, a former Bank of England executive whose tenure has been a disappointment to investors.
on Wednesday Cenkos said “regulatory approval has…not yet been received” for the return of Durkin, which means Hotson has to stay on.
There now seems to be doubt that Durkin will ever get the official nod. Hotson announced his departure last October after a 90% drop in profits. He will now stay until Cenkos can confirm a replacement.
Cenkos on Wednesday said revenues are still falling claiming “the industry has continued to be impacted by political and market uncertainty which has been detrimental to investors' sentiment. As a consequence, the Company's revenues in the first four months have been less than that in the same period last year.”
Cenkos was fined £500,000 by the City watchdog for failings in the way it handled Quindell’s botched attempt to move from AIM to the main market. Quindell was later mired in scandal.
Cenkos is also presently without a permanent chairman. Gerry Aherne left the role “with immediate effect” in November. Jeff Hewitt is the acting non-executive chairman.
Cenkos said: “Currently, we are working on several transactions and our potential pipeline gives us optimism for the rest of the year.”
