- Strong organic growth
- Dividend hiked 8%
- Sees full year revenue at upper-end
Business recovery and property advisory services company Begbies Traynor (BEG:AIM) jumped 8% to a new year high after it revealed better than expected full year results and saw 2026 revenue at the top end of market forecasts.
The gain takes shares in the AIM listed company up 22% year-to-date, compared with a flat performance for the FTSE AIM 100 Index.
Executive chairman Ric Traynor commented: ‘Our results are ahead of original market consensus expectations in terms of revenue, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) and net cash, having been driven by strong levels of organic growth delivered across our broad range of advisory services in both divisions.
STRONG MOMENTUM CONTINUES
Revenue for the year to the end of April increased by 12% (10% organic) to £153.7 million, slightly above the level indicated at the 23 May trading update.
Adjusted EBITDA grew 11% to £31.7 million and adjusted pre-tax profit was 7% higher at £23.5 million, while free cash flow jumped by a better than expected 56% to £19.4 million aided by a normalisation in working capital movements.
The group ended the period with net cash (excluding lease liabilities) of £0.9 million despite having spent £9.4 million on acquisition and earn out payments, £1.6 million on share buybacks and paying out £6.4 million in dividends.
The board recommended an 8% increase in the total dividend for the year to 4.3p per share and announced a new £1 million share buyback to mitigate the impact future dilution from share options.
REVENUE AT TOP END
Looking ahead the company said the new financial year had started with encouraging levels of activity and the board anticipated continuing growth driven by increasing scale, larger value cases case and supportive market dynamics.
Consequently, the company believes full year revenue will be at the upper-end of market expectations with a company-complied consensus range of £158.9 million to £162.8 million.
Ongoing investment in the business, inflation and higher national insurance costs mean full year adjusted pre-tax profit is expected to be in line with market forecasts of between £23.7 million and £25 million.
The company told Shares it expects a bigger contribution from acquisitions in the current financial year, driven by a strong pipeline of opportunities.
