Full year results and final dividend for the year ended 31/12/22
The Group has successfully delivered growth across the majority of its KPIs, increasing total client numbers and reporting double digit growth in key areas of recurring revenue. The strength of trading in the second half of the year underpins the Board's confidence that Personal Group is firmly back on a growth trajectory and set to benefit from the investments that have been made in the offering and team.
Financial Highlights
- Group revenue up 16% to £86.7m (2021: £74.5m)
- Adjusted EBITDA* of £6.0m, in line with market expectations, (2021: £6.1m), showing significant half on half EBITDA growth (H2 2022 adjusted EBITDA of approximately £4.5m, H1 2022: £1.5m)
- Adjusted profit before tax** of £3.8m (2021: £4.3m profit), with a statutory loss before tax of £6.8m as a result of £10.6m goodwill impairment of Let's Connect
- Adjusted Basic EPS** of 10.6p (2021: 11.5p), with a statutory Basic EPS of (23.1)p (2021: 11.5p)
- Strong balance sheet and liquidity with cash and deposits at year end of £18.7m (2021: £22.9m) and no debt
- Final dividend for 2022 of 5.3p per share, making a full year dividend for 2022 of 10.6p (2021: 10.6p)
*Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation of intangible assets, goodwill impairment, share‐ based payment expenses, corporate acquisition costs and restructuring costs.
** Excluding goodwill impairment of Let's Connect of £10.6m.
Operational Highlights
- Continued expansion of our customer base and high retention rates. New contracts secured with 101 new clients (2021: 86), including Secure Trust Bank, Telford & Wrekin Council and the National Trust. 1.4m employees in the UK workforce with access to one or more of the Group's services (2021: 1.2m)
- Increased Affordable Insurance sales provide basis for future growth
Annualised Premium income up 15% to £28.0m (2021: £24.4m)
New insurance sales of £9.5m, up 157% (2021: £3.7m); at the highest level seen since 2018, benefiting from investments in our sales team.
Claims ratios increased to 27.7% (2021: 24.5%) higher than historic norms as hospital admittances and visits increased post COVID‐19 lockdowns. - Benefits platform providing increased contribution to the Group
Subscriptions for our enterprise platform, Hapi, gained momentum with Annualised Recurring Revenue (ARR) increasing by 29% to £2.0m (2021: £1.6m)
Expansion into SME market also continued to grow at pace, with Sage Employee Benefits, the Group's SME proposition, being taken to market through Sage achieving gross ARR by end of 2022 of £3.0m (2021: £1.6m) and 50,000 paying employees on the platform. - Challenging H2 for Let's Connect
Consumer technology benefits business impacted by industrial action within in its major client, compounding existing supply chain availability and impacting its peak trading period, leading to a goodwill impairment.
Other clients performed well, emphasising the cost‐of‐living benefit for employees in being able to spread the cost of technology purchases without the interest charges and credit checks they face on the High Street. - M&A adds to Pay & Reward division footprint Acquisition of Quintige Consulting Group in July 2022 presents opportunities for cross‐selling and adding new clients.
