18 November 2021

Begbies Traynor Group plc

Trading update

Notice of half year results

Begbies Traynor Group plc ("the group"), the business recovery, financial advisory and property services consultancy, announces an update on trading for the six months ended 31 October 2021. All figures are unaudited.

The group is pleased to report a strong financial performance in the six months. Group revenue increased to c.£52m (2020: £37.5m), with adjusted profit before tax growing to c.£8m (2020: £5.0m), principally reflecting the benefit of acquisitions completed since January 2021.

The group has maintained its strong financial position with net cash of £1.2m at 31 October 2021 (30 April 2021: £3.0m, 31 October 2020: £0.7m) and significant levels of headroom within our committed bank facilities. Acquisition and deferred consideration payments of c.£3m were made in the period.

As previously guided, we expect our results will have a second half weighting as we anticipate an increase in insolvency activity over the remainder of our financial year (to 30 April 2022). Overall, we remain confident of delivering market expectations* for the full year, which will represent a year of significant growth.

Insolvency market

The insolvency market has been suppressed since March 2020 due to Government support measures during the pandemic. However, since May 2021, the Insolvency Service has reported** month on month increases in insolvency appointments nationally as these support measures have been removed.

The increases to date have predominantly been in liquidations (which typically represent insolvencies of smaller companies), where the volume of appointments has now returned to pre-pandemic levels. We have increased our share of this market segment in the year by volume. Although the number of administrations (which typically involve larger and more complex instructions) has increased in recent months, they are currently significantly below pre-pandemic levels.

Divisional performance

The business recovery and financial advisory division has performed well in the period. The prior year acquisitions have performed in line with expectations and have been integrated as planned. Organic activity levels have reflected the market dynamics in the six months as noted above.

Our corporate finance team had a successful six months of deal completions and has a strong pipeline of transactions for the second half of our financial year. The MAF Finance Group acquisition (completed in May 2021) has delivered results in line with expectations, with synergy and cross selling opportunities being identified as the business has been integrated into the group.

The property advisory and transactional services division performed well and achieved year on year growth in revenue and profit (inclusive of acquisitions) from a normalised trading performance compared to the lockdown impacted comparative period.

* current range of analyst forecasts for adjusted PBT of £17.0m-£18.5m (as compiled by the group)
** Insolvency Service - monthly insolvency statistics October 2021 published 16 November 2021 

Notice of results

The group will report its half year results for the six months ended 31 October 2021 on Tuesday, 14 December 2021. There will be a virtual analyst presentation at 9:00am on the day. Please contact begbies@mhpc.com or on 020 3128 8572 if you would like to receive details.

Ric Traynor, Executive Chairman of Begbies Traynor Group, commented:

"I am pleased to report a strong financial performance in the first six months of our financial year, which is testament to the benefit and integration of our recent acquisitions. We remain confident of delivering market expectations for the full year, which will represent a year of significant growth and ensures we are well placed to continue to invest in our successful growth strategy."

Enquiries please contact:

Begbies Traynor Group plc                                                                   0161 837 1700

Ric Traynor - Executive Chairman

Nick Taylor - Group Finance Director

Canaccord Genuity Limited                                                                   020 7523 8350

(Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Adam James / Patrick Dolaghan

Shore Capital                                                                                          020 7408 4090

(Joint Broker)

Malachy McEntyre / Mark Percy / Anita Ghanekar / James Thomas

MHP Communications                                                                           020 3128 8572

Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt / Florence Mayo                                                 begbies@mhpc.com