Corporate News

“Continued growth in capacity underpins full year of net cash generation”

Anexo Group plc (AIM: ANX), the specialist integrated credit hire and legal services provider, announces its final results for the year ended 31 December 2020 (the ‘period’ or ‘FY 2020’).

Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased by 10.5% to £86.8 million (2019: £78.5 million)
• Operating profit reported at £18.1 million (2019: £24.6 million), a reduction of 26.6% in line with market expectations
• Adjusted¹ operating profit before exceptional items in line with market expectations, declining by 25.9% to £18.7 million (2019: £25.3 million)
• Adjusted¹ operating profit margin reduced to 21.6% (2019: 32.2%)
• Profit before tax of £15.5 million (2019: £22.4 million), a reduction of 30.8%
• Adjusted¹ profit before tax and exceptional items reported at £16.1 million, (2019: £23.0 million), a decline of 29.9% after £6.5 million of investment in staff, VW case acquisition costs and IT costs associated with the headcount increase
• Adjusted² basic EPS at 11.4 pence (2019: 17.0 pence)
• Proposed final dividend of 1 penny per share giving a total dividend for the year of 1.5 pence per share (2019: 1.5 pence per share)
• Net assets reported at £110.4 million (2019: £91.7 million) representing an increase of 20.4%
• Reduction in net cash outflows from operating activities reporting a net cash inflow of £0.2 million in 2020 (2019: net cash outflow: £0.8 million)
• Net debt balance at 31 December 2020 was £40.5 million (31 December 2019: £36.2 million)

_{Note: The basis of preparation of the consolidated financial statements for the current and previous year is set out in the Financial Review.}

_{1. Adjusted operating profit and profit before tax: excludes share‑based payment charges in 2019 and 2020. A reconciliation to reported (IFRS) results is included in the Financial Review.}

_{2. Adjusted EPS: adjusted PBT less tax at statutory rate divided by the weighted number of shares in issue during the year.}

Financial and Operational KPIs

• During 2020 the Group has seen continued improvement in a number of key performance measures (detailed below). These have resulted in a transition from cash absorption to cash generation by the Group, notwithstanding the issues faced during 2020 from COVID-19. This trend is particularly pleasing with an increase in the number of new cases funded, rising from 6,959 to 7,535. This illustrates increased investment in our portfolio of cases and is supported by growth in cash collections, which rose by 16.4% in the year to reach £98.0 million in FY 2020.
• This improvement has been supported by investment in legal staff. In 2019, the number of senior fee earners grew by almost 43% to reach 127 at the year end. Further recruitment in 2020 has resulted in headcount growing by a further 18 staff (an increase of 14%) to end the year at 145 senior fee earners.

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

“I am delighted to report that the Group has achieved the milestone of net cash generation throughout the Financial Year. This achievement is especially notable given the disruption we experienced throughout the year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We continue to focus on increasing cash settlements through the expansion of our Legal Services division while using our working capital to underpin growth in our Credit Hire division. Vehicle numbers were very robust, particularly in the second half of the year, despite the pandemic.

“Both our business divisions have remained fully operational throughout the 2020 and into 2021 and the Group has demonstrated considerable resilience. Ongoing investment into our advocacy practice is forming a solid foundation for our strategy of building this into a major contributor to future revenues.

“The arrival of DBAY Advisors Limited as a significant shareholder is a major vote of confidence in the Group’s strategy and management and we look forward to working closely with DBAY to ensure continued expansion of our main business divisions and to create value for all our shareholders.

“The Board remains confident of the Group’s capacity for organic growth. We believe that we have proved the resilience of our business in the difficult circumstances we continue to experience. Given our strong financial position we believe that Anexo is well positioned to continue its growth trajectory and deliver profitable growth to our shareholders. The Board is pleased to propose a dividend of 1 penny.”

Analyst Briefing

A conference call for analysts will be held at 9.30am today, 27 April 2021.  A copy of the Final Results presentation is available at the Group's website: https://www.anexo-group.com/content/investors/presentations 

An audio webcast of the conference call with analysts will be available after 12pm today: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3063539/DB628CDF975F247DFBBB7EEC5A618D78 

For further enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

Anexo is a specialist integrated credit hire and legal services provider. The Group has created a unique business model by combining a direct capture Credit Hire business with a wholly owned Legal Services firm. The integrated business targets the impecunious not at fault motorist, referring to those who do not have the financial means or access to a replacement vehicle.

Through its dedicated Credit Hire sales team and network of 1,100 plus active introducers around the UK, Anexo provides customers with an end-to-end service including the provision of Credit Hire vehicles, assistance with repair and recovery, and claims management services. The Group’s Legal Services division, Bond Turner, provides the legal support to maximise the recovery of costs through settlement or court action as well as the processing of any associated personal injury claim.

The Group was admitted to trading on AIM in June 2018 with the ticker ANX. For additional information please visit: www.anexo-group.com