Hydrogen Group says it is “encouraged” with its performance for the first half of the year in a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2010.

The update reveals:

• Trading for period was ahead of board expectations
• Group net fee income (NFI) for the period was significantly ahead of the same period for last year
• NFI from international operations rose to roughly 35% of group NFI against 19% for the same period last year
• Strong revenue growth in the period has seen in an increase in working capital, however, the group expects to be broadly cash neutral at the end of the period, compared to a net cash of £3.1m at the end of December 2009. 

Executive chairman Ian Temple says: “Having successfully opened two offices outside of the UK and taken our International NFI to over a third of the business, we are continuing to seek further international opportunities. The investment we are making in 2010 should deliver further benefit in future years.”