12 January 2023

The MISSION Group plc

("MISSION" "The Company" or "The Group")

TRADING UPDATE AND NOTICE OF RESULTS

MISSION Group plc (AIM: TMG), creator of Work That Counts^TM, comprising a group of digital marketing and communications Agencies delivering real, sustainable growth for its Clients, is pleased to issue a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2022.  

Trading Update

The Group continued to see a resilient underlying performance from its Agencies in the second half of the financial year, despite the weakening macro-economic backdrop. Increasing exposure to more robust sectors and geographies, coupled with the benefits of the investments MISSION has made to expand its capabilities and services, have underpinned year-on-year Group revenue growth of 10%, slightly ahead of expectation.

Careful control of costs has remained a priority throughout the year, and the Group has balanced this with a commitment to build a strong platform to support growth through continued investment in our talent base. Despite inflationary headwinds and higher finance costs, the Group expects to report Headline Profit before Tax of not less than £7.6m, ahead of the prior year.

Further progress has been made against the Group's strategic areas of focus, expanding its capabilities whilst also improving structural efficiencies to create operational improvements. 

As part of the Group's strategy to strengthen the integrated communications offering of its Agencies, further acquisitions were made in H2 of Influence Sports & Media and social media agency Populate, by the Group's Sports Marketing Agency Mongoose. These follow the successful acquisition of the youth focussed creative business Livity in H1.

MISSION has fundamentally restructured its Asian operations, where performance has been impacted by the extended effect of COVID-19 on the region, and has reviewed the progress and potential of Pathfindr, the Group's Industrial IoT solutions business. Taken together, these actions will result in exceptional restructuring costs, and a non-cash Goodwill impairment charge, in the region of £6m at the year end.

The effect of these restructuring costs and acquisitions, was that Net Debt closed at £11.4m. The Group continues to benefit from significant headroom against its current debt facility of £20m to support its strategic goals and remains cash generative, with Net Debt expected to reduce significantly in 2023. 

Board Update

Executive Director Sue Mullen will be retiring from the Board with immediate effect but will remain with the Group as Chair of Story.

Notice of Results
The Group expects to announce its final results on 28 March 2023.

Commenting, James Clifton, Chief Executive Officer of MISSION said:

"In a year of social and political turmoil with unprecedented cost and inflationary challenges MISSION has delivered a robust performance in 2022, building on the strong momentum established in the prior year. 2023 has started well with new Client wins meaning that despite the continued economic uncertainties creating challenges for all businesses, we will continue to exploit the opportunities available to us. The Group has a clear strategic focus that means we are well positioned for revenue and margin growth both in 2023 and the longer term."

ENDS

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NOTES TO EDITORS

MISSION is a group of digital marketing and communications Agencies. Employing 1,000 people across 27 locations and three continents, the Group successfully combines its diverse expertise to produce Work That Counts^TM for our Clients, whatever their ambitions. Creating real standout, sharing real innovation and delivering real business growth for some of the world's biggest brands. www.themission.co.uk