Anexo Group PLC – Final Results

Anexo Group plc (AIM: ANX), the specialist integrated credit hire and legal services provider, announces its maiden set of final results for the year ended 31 December 2018.

Financial Highlights

• Successfully raised £25.0 million1 (before expenses) and admitted to trading on AIM in June 2018
• Revenue increased by 24.7% to £56.5 million (FY 2017: £45.3 million)
• Operating profit reported at £15.4 million (2017: £15.1 million), an increase of 2.7%
• Adjusted2 operating profit before exceptional items slightly ahead of market expectations, rising by 13.9% to £17.2 million (FY 2017: £15.1 million)
• Adjusted2 operating profit margin reduced marginally to 30.4% (FY 2017: 33.3%)
• Profit before tax of £14.3 million (2017: £14.6 million), a reduction of 2.0%
• Adjusted2 profit before tax and exceptional items increased to £16.1 million, (2017: £14.6 million), an increase of 10.3%
• Adjusted3 basic EPS at 12 pence (FY 2017: 11.4 pence)
• Proposed final dividend of 1.5 pence per share (FY 2017: Nil)
• Net assets reported at £75.8 million (FY 2017: £55.6 million) representing an increase of 36.3%
  
• Net cash outflow from operating activities to fund growth of £7.9 million (FY 2017: net cash inflow: £1.1 million)
• Strong net cash balance of £5.5 million at 31 December 2018 (31 December 2017: £0.2 million)
• Net debt balance at 31 December 2018 was £17.3 million (31 December 2017: £15.0 million)

 1. The placing that accompanied Anexo’s admission to AIM raised £25.0 million before expenses, of which £10.0 million was raised for the Group, and £15.0 million for the Selling Shareholders, of which not less than £5.0 million was repaid to the Group.
2. Adjusted operating profit and profit before tax: excludes the costs of Admission to AIM and share‑based payment charges.
3. Adjusted EPS: adjusted PBT less tax at statutory rate divided by the number of shares on a pro forma basis, i.e. assuming that the number of shares in issue immediately post-IPO were in issue through the entire comparative period. 

Operational Highlights and KPIs

• Bolton office opened on 3 December 2018. At 31 December 2018 it had recruited 20 experienced litigators significantly increasing capacity within Bond Turner
• Focus on settlement rate which continues to move upwards driving increased cash collections
• Number of new cases funded increased 31.2% to 5,930 (FY 2017: 4,520) 

KPI	FY 2018	FY 2017	% movement
Number of vehicles on hire at the year end	1,531	815	+87.9
Average number of vehicles on hire for the year	1,155	894	+29.2
Cash collections from settled cases (£’000s)	58,100	53,973	+7.6
New cases funded (no)	5,930	4,520	+31.2%
Number of senior fee earners at period end	89	66	+34.8
Average number of senior fee earners	76	62	+22.6

Commenting on the Final Results, Alan Sellers, Executive Chairman of Anexo Group plc, said: 

“We are delighted to report such a strong set of maiden final results which, as announced earlier in January 2019, are ahead of market expectations.  Anexo has successfully demonstrated that the cash raised at IPO has enabled the strategic investment outlined upon Admission, expanding the Credit Hire fleet and growing Anexo’s high quality legal team in order to increase the number of processed claims whilst increasing cash generation from cases settled. 

“The investment is clearly supporting near-term profitable growth across the business with the strong financial performance, coupled with the ever-increasing UK credit hire and legal claims market, giving the Board confidence in our ability to scale and generate near term returns for our shareholders as demonstrated by the maiden proposed final dividend in line with the Board’s stated intention at Admission.

Anexo remains extremely well positioned to grow its market share and take advantage of the opportunities available to it.  The Board views the current financial year with considerable optimism.”