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GBG Half Year Report 2020
Press Release

GBG Half Year Report 2020

GB GROUP PLC (“GBG”, “Group” or the “Company") HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 Navigated first half well, supported by shift to digital and good strategic execution.

GB Group plc (AIM: GBG), the global identity data intelligence specialist, announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 September 2020.

 

Financial highlights

 

2020

Restated* (2019) 

Growth

Revenue

£103.5m

£94.3m

  9.8%

Adjusted operating profit†

£26.8m

£21.6m

24.5%

Adjusted basic earnings per share‡

11.8p

9.0p

30.5%

Profit after tax

£11.8m

£5.6m

110.3%

Deferred income balance

£36.0m

£32.8m

9.6%

Net assets

£358.8m

£338.4m

6.0%

Net (debt)/cash††

£(2.7)m

£(53.8)m

n/a

Organic Revenue

 

2020 Organic Revenue

2019 Revenue (CCY)

Organic
Revenue
Growth (CCY)

Total Revenue

£103.5m

£93.8m

10.4%

Note: “CCY” indicates figure reported on a constant currency basis.

*The results for H1 in the last financial year have been adjusted in this announcement to be consistent with the refinements made for IFRS 15 in the 2020 Annual Report. The adjustment reflects revenue phasing under IFRS 15. The impact of this adjustment re-aligns revenue in the 6 months to 30 September 2019 only and does not impact the reported results for the full year to 31 March 2020. See note 2 to the interim financial statements for further details.

 

Chris Clark, CEO, commented:

“Our positive performance in the first six months is testament to the hardworking team at GBG. I am immensely proud of our dedicated team members who have adapted well to new conditions while continuing to support our customers in the opportunities and challenges they face.

We have delivered good results driven by accelerated growth from some of our existing customers as they extend their use of digital services and encouragingly, customer contract renewal rates continue to be in line with prior years. Although we saw the rate of new contracts slowdown in some geographies and sectors, we successfully won new business against our competitors throughout H1.

By managing spend and cash during the period and through our highly cash-generative business model, GBG’s net debt position has improved by over £32 million since the start of the financial year. This is a strong endorsement of GBG’s business model.

Clearly the broader implications of COVID-19 mean that uncertainty continues to be a dominant trend for all businesses around the world. However, GBG is well positioned as digital acceleration is now even more a necessity for all companies. For the consumer facing businesses we serve, key to their success will be making sure they know who and where their customers are. We will continue to invest organically and through acquisition for additional capabilities to meet these needs and drive long-term growth for GBG.”

 

Operational highlights and outlook

A good first half performance

 

  • Strong Identity and Location performance driven by new and existing customers
  • Growth underpinned by a strong performance in the USA from a specific one-off customer project
  • Fraud impacted by tough comparatives versus prior year, a slowdown in customer decision making and the on-site nature of implementations during the global pandemic
  • Declared interim dividend of 3 pence per share

 

 

 

Enhanced products & data offering

 

 

 

  • Machine learning capabilities extended across Fraud solutions
  • Integration of global identity verification solutions to increase international reach for customers
  • New datasets including, Argentina, Brazil and UK Mobile

 

Acquisitions/Investments

 

  • Strong balance sheet, cash generation and access to liquidity will enable acquisitions and partnerships that meet our strategic requirements
  • Investment in Credolabs expected to strengthen Fraud capabilities
  • Evolving pipeline of potential acquisitions

 

People

 

  • Focus has been ensuring our team is safe and secure
  • Employee engagement scores continue to be high – nearly 90% saying they would recommend GBG as a great place to work

 

Positive outlook

 

  • GBG re-iterates its guidance for the full year, anticipating revenue to be marginally ahead of last year on an underlying basis
  • GBG is carefully managing the business impact of COVID-19 as the situation evolves across different sectors and geographies
  • GBG has significant market opportunity supported by accelerating structural growth drivers

 

Notes:

† Adjusted operating profit means profit before amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payments, exceptional items, interest and tax. This measure is not defined under IFRS but Management believe that this Alternative Performance Measure (APM) is a more appropriate metric to understand the underlying performance of the Group. For more details see “Alternative Performance Measures” in the Interim Consolidated Financial Statements.

‡ Adjusted earnings per share is defined as adjusted operating profit less net finance costs and tax divided by the basic weighted average number of ordinary shares of the Company. 

†† Net (debt)/cash means cash and short-term deposits less loans (excluding unamortised loan arrangement fees).

 

Click here for further details of the full announcement..

- Ends –

 

To find out more, please contact:

GBG

Chris Clark, CEO

Dave Wilson, CFO & COO

 

01244 657333

Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Edward Knight

Peter Stewart

Nick Prowting

 

020 7418 8900

Tulchan Communications LLP

James Macey White

Matt Low

Deborah Roney

 

Website

020 7353 4200

GBG@tulchangroup.com

 

 

www.gbgplc.com/investors

 

Presentation and webcast

GBG management will be hosting an analyst presentation at 09.00am GMT at UBS, 5 Broadgate, London, EC2M 2QS today.

Shortly following the presentation, an archived webcast will be available on the Investors page of the Company's website.

 

About GBG

GBG offers a series of solutions that help organisations quickly validate and verify the identity and location of their customers.

Our innovative technology leads the world in location intelligence and fraud detection. Our products are built on an unparalleled breadth of data obtained from over [200] global partners which helps us to verify the identity of 4.4 billion people globally.

Our headquarters are in the UK and we have nearly 1,000 team members across [16] countries. We work with clients in [72] countries including some of the best-known businesses around the world, ranging from US e-commerce giants to Asia's biggest banks and European household brands.

To find out more about how we help our clients establish trust with their customers, visit www.gbgplc.com, follow us on Twitter @gbgplc, or read more in our newsroom: www.gbgplc.com/newsroom.