TIDMPGH
RNS Number : 1743O
Personal Group Holdings PLC
30 January 2023
30 January 2023
Personal Group Holdings plc
("the Company" or "Group")
Trading Update
Strong levels of recurring revenue growth, providing increasing
earnings visibility and
paving the way for profitable growth in 2023
Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH), the workforce benefits
and services provider, is pleased to provide the following update
for the financial year ended 31 December 2022 ("FY 2022"). The
Company expects to publish its results for FY 2022, together with
notification of its final dividend, on 28 March 2023.
Highlights
-- Overall trading for FY 2022 was in line with market
expectations, with revenue of approximately GBP85m (2021: GBP74.5m)
and adjusted EBITDA of approximately GBP6m (2021: GBP6.1m)
-- Considerable growth was delivered in H2, following the
investments made into the sales team and offering, resulting in
significant half on half EBITDA growth (H2 2022 adjusted EBITDA of
approximately GBP4.5m, H1 2022: GBP1.5m)
-- Group benefiting from increasing proportion of recurring
revenues, providing high levels of visibility for 2023:
o Insurance Annualised Premium Income ("API") increased by c.15%
to GBP28.0m (2021: GBP24.4m)
o Benefits Platform Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR") increased
c.56%. to GBP5.0m (2021: GBP3.2m)
o Pay & Reward ARR increased c.25% to GBP0.5m (2021:
GBP0.4m)
-- Strong retention levels across all areas, with insurance
retention levels remaining above pre-pandemic averages
-- Industrial action in key clients in H2 resulted in a
softening of the expected trading performance of the Let's Connect
business in its peak period
-- Robust balance sheet with cash position in excess of GBP18m
as at 31 December 2022 (2021: GBP22.9m) as expected, post the
acquisition of Quintige Consulting Group (June 22) and internal
technology investment
Operational Highlights
The Group continued to enjoy positive trading through the second
half of the year, resulting in 101 new client wins in the year,
whilst maintaining high levels of retention of existing clients.
Continued progress against the Board's key strategic objectives was
made with the Affordable Insurance and Benefits Platform divisions
in particular, demonstrating strong underlying growth.
Affordable Insurance
Momentum continued into H2, with new business sales records
achieved for both the best month and the best annual performance by
an individual sales colleague, helping to drive up the API value to
GBP28.0m (December 2021: GBP24.4m). Achieving this level of growth
against a backdrop of industrial action and the cost-of-living
crisis, provides the Company with a solid foundation from which to
grow further in 2023, when the full benefit of the sales achieved
in 2022 are expected to be seen.
As anticipated, claims levels for the year were higher than
historic norms as NHS activity ramped up post Covid, but remained
at projected levels in H2, after the higher than anticipated levels
of Q1.
Encouragingly, retention levels continued to remain above the
Group's pre-pandemic averages and are a validation of the value
placed on our products by our policyholder base.
Benefits Platform
Further growth was seen in H2 as the relationship with Sage
continued to strengthen. ARR from Sage Employee Benefits increased
to GBP3.0m at the end of the year (2021: GBP1.6m) and,
significantly, our target of 50,000 paying employees by the end of
2022 was met. This provided a large contribution towards the growth
in the division's overall ARR to GBP5.0m (2021: GBP3.2m), alongside
new business wins and strong retention rates for our Enterprise
clients.
Pay & Reward
Quintige Consulting Group Limited, acquired at the end of June
2022, performed well in H2 and contributed to growth in this
division. Innecto performed steadily in H2 and ARR from its Job
Evaluation, Pay Benchmarking and Pay Review software products now
stands at GBP0.55m (2021: GBP0.43m) generated through a combination
of new business sales and strong retention rates.
Other Owned Benefits (Let's Connect)
Our consumer technology benefits business, Let's Connect, had a
challenging H2 with industrial action taking place in its major
client, Royal Mail Group. This compounded existing supply chain
availability and impacted its peak trading period. Whilst other
clients performed well, emphasising the cost-of-living benefit for
employees of being able to spread the cost of technology purchases,
the impact of the aforementioned industrial action resulted in a
divisional performance broadly in line with FY21 but down on
management expectations.
Outlook
Whilst we have planned for 2023 to be another difficult year for
the economy and wider macro environment, the strength of the
Company's trading in 2022, strong retention levels across all areas
and the Group's growing API and ARR continue to provide the Board
with confidence in the future opportunity for the business.
Our products remain extremely relevant in a growing market.
This, together with a strong balance sheet, quality customer base
and leading technology platform, mean that we are well placed to
capitalise on opportunities as employee engagement remains high on
the agenda and have a strong platform from which to grow
further.
Deborah Frost, Chief Executive of Personal Group, commented:
"2022 was a pivotal year for Personal Group, as we put the
pandemic behind us and rebuilt our business strongly, delivering
underlying double-digit growth in many areas of our recurring
revenue. Against a turbulent backdrop, we have proven the
resilience of our offering and business model and continued to
deliver in line with expectations.
Our offerings are needed now, more than ever. Our core customers
in warehousing, transport, manufacture and care have robust
employment prospects, and they and their employers are investing in
protection and wellbeing solutions as they seek to retain and
support their workforces. The vast UK SME market is enthusiastic
about our employee benefits platform, and we are excited by the
substantial growth of this division.
We start 2023 with positivity across the business and our Board
and management team are confident in our ability to deliver
profitable growth for all our stakeholders in 2023."
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have
been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this
announcement.
-ENDS-
For more information please contact:
Personal Group Holdings Plc
Deborah Frost (CEO) / Sarah Mace Via Alma PR
(CFO)
Cenkos Securities Plc
Camilla Hume / Callum Davidson
(Nomad) +44 (0)20 7397 8900
Russell Kerr (Sales)
Alma PR +44 (0)20 3405 0205
Caroline Forde / Joe Pederzolli personalgroup@almapr.co.uk
/ Kinvara Verdon
Notes to Editors
Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH) is a workforce benefits
and services provider. The Group enables employers across the UK to
improve employee engagement and support their people's physical,
mental, social and financial wellbeing. Its vision is to create a
brighter future for the UK workforce.
Personal Group provides health insurance services and a broad
range of employee benefits, engagement, and wellbeing products. Its
offerings can also be delivered through its proprietary app, Hapi,
and the recently developed extension to the platform, Hapiflex.
The Group's growth strategy is centred around widening the
footprint of the business into the SME, talent-led & Public
Sectors, thereby expanding the addressable customer base. In
addition, it aims to grow in its existing industrial heartlands, to
re-invigorate growth in insurance policyholders and to drive the
use of its SaaS offerings.
Group Clients include: Airbus, B & Q, Barchester Healthcare,
British Transport Police, The Prince's Trust, Randstad, Royal Mail
Group, The Royal Mint, the Sandwell & Birmingham NHS Trust,
Stagecoach Group plc, and The University of York.
For further information on the Group please see
www.personalgroup.com
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END
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