TIDMGBG

RNS Number : 8270U

GB Group PLC

28 November 2023

 
 Embargoed until 7.00 a.m.   28 November 2023 
 

GB GROUP PLC

("GBG", the "Group" or the "Company")

Half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2023

GB Group plc (AIM: GBG), the experts in digital location, identity verification and identity fraud software, announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 September 2023.

Financials

 
                                                           1H24          1H23 
 Revenue                                              GBP132.4m     GBP133.8m 
 Constant currency revenue(1)                         GBP132.4m     GBP130.0m 
 Adjusted operating profit (1)                         GBP23.9m      GBP28.1m 
 Adjusted operating profit excluding FX gain (2)       GBP23.6m      GBP21.8m 
    Adjusted operating margin excluding FX gain           17.8%         16.3% 
 Operating (loss) / profit                           (GBP52.6)m       GBP2.5m 
 (Loss) / profit before tax                          (GBP57.3)m       GBP0.0m 
 Adjusted diluted earnings per share (3)                  5.1 p          7.3p 
 Diluted loss per share                                 (21.8)p        (0.3)p 
 Net (debt)/cash(1)                                 (GBP104.8)m   (GBP132.6m) 
 

Notes: (1) Defined within note 22 to the Half Year Results. (2) Normalises for impact of the net gain on foreign exchange, which in 1H23 was an unusually large GBP6.3million gain primarily related to intercompany loans vs. a GBP0.3million gain in 1H24. (3) This measure is defined within note 10 to the Half Year Results. Growth percentages are calculated with reference to the actual unrounded figures in the primary financial statements and so might not tie directly to the rounded figures found in this release if recalculated.

Chris Clark, CEO, commented:

"We are pleased with the first-half performance, Location and Fraud delivered good growth and transaction volumes within Identity have stabilised. At the same time, our continued focus on structural efficiency savings has already achieved an annualised run-rate reduction in operating expenditure of GBP10 million, while maintaining investment in our differentiated product portfolio. While the subdued macroeconomic environment may persist, we continue to expect some year-on-year Identity revenue growth in the latter part of the current year, and I am confident that our strong discipline on cost, good momentum with customer wins and high retention leave GBG very well positioned to deliver our FY24 profit expectations.

I am particularly pleased that Dev Dhiman will become GBG's next CEO following my retirement in January. His understanding of our business, markets and culture has delivered excellent results leading our business in APAC and he is the right person to guide GBG through the next phase of its evolution. I wish him, and all our team members, the very best for the future."

 
Financial summary 
 
         *    On a reported basis, first-half revenue was down 
              1.1%. On a constant currency basis, it was up 1.8%. 
              Excluding the year-on-year (YoY) decline in 
              cryptocurrency customer revenues, growth was up 3.3% 
 
 
         *    Good performance in Location, up 8.1% and strong 
              performance in Fraud, up 10.5% 
 
 
         *    Identity performed as expected, down 2.8%. Excluding 
              YoY decline in cryptocurrency customer revenues, 
              growth was broadly flat. Monthly transaction volumes 
              have stabilised, and we expect some YoY growth in the 
              latter part of the year 
 
 
         *    Adjusted operating profit of GBP23.9 million, up 7.9% 
              excluding gains from foreign exchange. Reflects a 
              strategic focus to pursue efficiencies throughout the 
              group. 1H24 adjusted operating expenses were GBP6.1 
              million lower than the prior year despite 
              inflationary pressures 
 
 
         *    Exceptional non-cash goodwill impairment charge of 
              GBP54.7m due to the use of a higher discount rate, 
              driven by the significant increase in central bank 
              interest rates since March 2023 
 
 
         *    Strong year-to-date cash conversion of 102.0% (1H23: 
              57.5%) was more reflective of historic levels 
 
 
         *    Net debt as at 30 September was GBP104.8 million (31 
              March 2023: GBP105.9 million). C urrent net debt i s 
              now c.GBP95 million and expect to use cash generation 
              to reduce leverage to 1.30x by the year-end 
 
 
Strategic highlights 
 
        *    Despite the macroeconomic conditions, a pleasing 
             first-half performance. Excellent progress regarding 
             the simplification and efficiency pillar of our 
             strategy underpins the FY24 profit expectations 
 
 
        *    Continue to drive cross-sell/upsell activity while 
             also broadening our footprint with diverse new logos 
             such as Deutsche Telekom, Moody's Analytics, Standard 
             Bank, DAZN Bet and Australian Unity Wealth 
 
 
        *    Identity and fraud convergence plays to our 
             significant capabilities across regions and sectors; 
             engaging our customers with differentiated identity 
             products such as GBG Identity Score and GBG Trust, 
             offering in-depth global identity insights to combat 
             fraud and improve consumer onboarding 
 
 
        *    Location is driving innovation with its global 
             address data; deployment of a Global Store Finder 
             tool supporting 'click and collect' deliveries and 
             expansion of our Digital-first platform to 45 
             countries 
 
 
        *    Continue to harness advanced AI and machine learning 
             across our solutions to enhance verification accuracy 
             and detect sophisticated fraud threats effectively 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Outlook 
 
        *    The Board is pleased with both the strategic progress 
             achieved and GBG's first-half financial performance 
             against the backdrop of the continued macroeconomic 
             conditions. Our ongoing focus on simplicity and 
             efficiency has delivered a strong profit performance 
             in the half and underpins our FY24 profit 
             expectations, which will benefit from stronger 
             margins in the second half. Second-half performance 
             to date has been in line with our expectations and we 
             anticipate that FY24 revenue growth will be broadly 
             in-line with current expectations. The stabilisation 
             we have seen in Identity supports our confidence in 
             delivering some year-on-year Identity growth in the 
             latter part of the year 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
CEO succession announced 
 
        *    On 8 November 2023, it was announced that Chris Clark 
             had informed the Board of his decision to retire as 
             CEO and from the Board at the end of January 2024. 
             Following a rigorous process by the Board's 
             Nomination Committee, Dev Dhiman, Managing Director 
             of our Asia Pacific business, has been appointed CEO 
             Designate and will assume the CEO role when Chris 
             steps down after an orderly transition and handover 
             of the role 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Today's results presentation 
Management will host a webcast this morning at 0900hrs GMT for sell-side analysts and institutional 
 investors. This will be available on-demand via our investor website along with the materials 
 shortly after the event. 
 To register to view the event directly, please use the following link: 
 https://www.investis-live.com/gb-group/65439ed6c43e3c0d00629812/hdtr 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
For further information, please contact:GBG 
  Chris Clark, CEO & David Ward, CFO                   +44 (0) 1244 657333 
  Richard Foster, Investor Relations                   +44 (0) 7816 124164 
 Numis (Nominated Adviser and Corporate Broker) 
  Simon Willis & Joshua Hughes                       +44 (0) 0207 260 1000 
 Barclays (Corporate Broker) 
  Robert Mayhew & Stuart Jempson                      +44 (0) 207 623 2323 
 Teneo (Financial PR)                                 +44 (0) 20 7260 2700 
  James Macey White & Matt Low                               GBG@teneo.com 
 Website                                          www.gbgplc.com/investors 
 
 
 About GBG 
 GBG is the leading expert in global digital identity. We combine our powerful technology, 
 the most accurate data coverage and our talented team to deliver award-winning location intelligence, 
 identity verification and fraud prevention solutions. 
 
 With over 30 years' experience, we bring together a team of dedicated experts with local industry 
 insight from around the world to make it easy for businesses to identify and verify customers 
 and locations, protecting everyone, everywhere from fraud. 
 
 To find out more about how we help our customers establish trust with their customers visit 
 www.gbgplc.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @gbgplc. 
 

Chief Executive Officer's review

A good first half; excellent strategic progress and performance in line with our expectations

At GBG, every day we build, collaborate and partner to create a world where everyone can transact online with confidence. With the digital marketplace continuing to evolve, GBG's customers and their consumers will increasingly rely on the internet to supply and access public and commercial services. We fully expect that this enduring demand will provide a long runway of growth to trends such as digital transformation, increasing regulation across a diverse range of markets and an ever-growing need to protect against fraud.

Within a fragmented and competitive global Identity market, GBG has continued to innovate and drive differentiation to stand out from our peers, demonstrating our industry leadership position. Having successfully launched Multi-Bureau, GBG GO and our next-generation address capture solution to market in the last year, our momentum has continued with several new propositions that demonstrate our ongoing innovation and expertise including GBG Trust, GBG Identity Score and a new Global Store Finder product for Location.

Our first-half financial performance was pleasing despite the macroeconomic conditions. Both Location and Fraud delivered good performance with high single-digit growth in Location and low double-digit growth in Fraud. The decline in Identity was in line with our expectations, and excluding the impact of cryptocurrency customers, revenue was flat with strong growth in APAC offsetting a tough prior-year comparator in the Americas.

Over the last 18 months, GBG has faced two significant headwinds to growth; firstly, the general macroeconomic conditions, which have led to higher inflation and monetary tightening by central banks, has suppressed consumer demand leading to lower transactional volumes for GBG; secondly, specific headwinds related to changes in consumer behaviours following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic has driven demand reductions in the internet economy, particularly fintech businesses.

Given a more subdued macroeconomic outlook, the first of these headwinds may persist into our next financial year; however, the headwinds from the post-pandemic reduction in activity have begun to subside and we are encouraged by the stabilisation of monthly transaction volumes in Identity during the year to date. While we will continue to face tough year-on-year comparatives until the latter part of the year, we do expect to achieve some year-on-year Identity revenue growth.

We have delivered excellent strategic progress in our efforts to drive simplification and efficiencies that will increase the effectiveness of our business going forward. These initiatives, which began during FY23, have already achieved an annualised run-rate reduction in our operating expenditure of GBP10 million. In an environment in which businesses are experiencing greater uncertainty and lengthening of sales cycles, this work underpins the Board's confidence that GBG will deliver its profit expectation for FY24 and is positioned to be a more resilient and profitable business going forward.

Strategic progress

We remain resolute and focused on delivering our purpose as a business - to build trust in a digital world. The key trends such as digital transformation, industrialisation of fraud, customer friction and increasing regulation, will drive enduring demand in the markets in which we operate. A focus on using our identity and fraud expertise to deliver innovation enables the differentiation of our globally relevant identity fraud solutions. GBG has an increasing right to win in a large and fragmented marketplace, as customers require increasingly sophisticated onboarding journeys combining identity and fraud services to safely operate online and maximise the good consumers they can onboard.

The ongoing investment in our feature-rich portfolio of solutions reflects the increasing convergence of identity and fraud as well as the role that greater location confidence plays in establishing trust with a consumer. Recent coverage by leading industry analysts such as Juniper Research and Liminal recognise the leading role we are playing in delivering solutions that add significant value to our customers, enabling their consumers to transact online with confidence. GBG is well-positioned to accelerate cross-selling and up-selling of our solutions to existing under-penetrated customers and capture business through expansion into new geographies and sectors.

In the first half of the year, we were particularly pleased by the progress we made with two strategic initiatives; using innovation to differentiate our customer proposition and becoming a more effective and efficient organisation through simplification and prioritisation.

1) Driving increased differentiation through continued innovation

As we look to enhance our customer relationships, we are developing ways to add more value to their identity lifecycle, at the point of onboarding through to in-life. Over time this means global identity fraud propositions that leverage our strong core capabilities to combat origination fraud. Our identity fraud expertise, deep sector experience and commercial innovation will underpin this move. For example, we are building demand through GBG Identity Score, a product that consolidates our global expertise into a metric from 0-1000 to help customers understand the confidence they can have in an identity outcome and the level of onboarding risk. It will be an important differentiator as customers turn to GBG as their identity knowledge partner to achieve a competitive advantage. Notably, GBG Score powers our International Identity Index, which is helping the market understand identity data diversity on a global scale and supporting greater levels of identity inclusion.

Building on the success of our fraud networks in the Americas and customer response to our Alerts product in Australia, we are also in a pre-launch phase of GBG Trust, a global fraud network powered by the millions of transactions enabled through our data and document verification networks. This is an increasing capability for GBG to provide unique fraud indicators and insight to complement the regulatory decisioning we provide. These innovations along with those launched in the prior year such as Multi-Bureau and GBG GO expand the opportunities that we can develop with existing customers or to penetrate verticals such as the fast-growing gaming sector in the Americas.

Location is continuing to drive innovation that helps simplify the complexity of global premise-level address data for our customers, reducing the impact of failed deliveries in e-commerce and operational inefficiencies that result from poor address data quality. In the first part of the year, we successfully launched our Digital-first platform to enable Location to increase the accessibility of its products to customers in 45 countries globally, while delivering further innovation to the market with the introduction of a Global Store Finder product, supporting the broader emergence of 'click & collect' delivery. This ongoing innovation includes new AI capabilities to strengthen Location's competitiveness and enrich the way customers benefit from one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date global addressing solutions in the market.

As a business, GBG has understood the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for some time; utilising Computer Vision Machine Learning over the last decade to power our solutions. We have built a dedicated team specialising in data science, our expertise leverages AI and machine learning (ML) to tackle increasingly complex challenges such as those countering the fast-evolving and sophisticated threat from bad actors harnessing generative AI. This is already making a difference, with AI/ML deployed across our solutions to detect altered or fake ID documents, predict behaviour indicative of fraud and increase our levels of global address accuracy.

2) Driving cost efficiency through simplicity and prioritisation

Strong strategic progress has also been delivered in terms of accelerating our journey towards becoming a global organisation. We are driving efficiency by taking advantage of the scale we have built as a result of our previous acquisitions to achieve synergies and increase the effectiveness of our business. Our strategic actions cover three key areas; operational efficiency, product & technology and go-to-market activity. Several strategic workstreams are addressing these areas covering proactive management of headcount, process simplification, greater alignment of our portfolio to reduce duplication and tightened control of discretionary spend.

This relentless focus on driving simplicity and efficiency will maintain GBG's ability to prioritise the disciplined investment required to optimise our core solutions in a competitive market. During the first-half, for example, we have combined our regional Identity and Fraud product and technology teams to form a single global function pursuing strategic differentiation. This will result in greater collaboration to accelerate our product pipeline, helping us to integrate new features and products into our established solutions, alongside increasing commercial innovation, to ensure our go-to-market processes can launch new solutions at pace. These initiatives, which began during FY23, are ongoing and we have already achieved an annualised run-rate reduction in operating expenditure of GBP10 million. This will support our underlying margin in the shorter term, while importantly, enabling GBG to be a more resilient and profitable business over the longer term.

Our highly engaged team

The performance of our people is integral to sustaining our differentiation, and we are proud of the high levels of team engagement that we achieve throughout the business. The emphasis we place on team well-being and performance underpins the strong and resilient culture at GBG and supports our ability to drive continuous improvement and evolution. The passion, collaboration and deep expertise that our team consistently demonstrate in customer engagements have contributed to year-on-year improvements to our Net Promoter Score and customer satisfaction, which are comfortably above the industry benchmarks, in addition to the recognition in the extensive number of responses received to our Voice of Customer feedback programme.

Reflecting on the first-half, maintaining our high levels of engagement has been more challenging and has required proactive effort in an environment where headcount has been actively managed down and outcomes for the variable pay elements of remuneration have been relatively low. It is in that context that we are particularly pleased that our latest Gallup survey achieved our highest participation level to date and indicated that our engagement levels remain high, with 88% of our team recommending GBG as a great place to work.

Trading performance

 
                                                         1H24       1H23 
                                                   ---------- 
 Revenue                                            GBP132.4m  GBP133.8m 
 Adjusted operating profit excluding FX gain         GBP23.6m   GBP21.8m 
     Adjusted operating margin excluding FX gain        17.8%      16.3% 
 Net gain on foreign exchange                         GBP0.3m    GBP6.3m 
 Adjusted operating profit                           GBP23.9m   GBP28.1m 
-------------------------------------------------  ----------  --------- 
 

Both revenue and adjusted operating profit are in line with the trading update released on 19 October 2023. On a reported basis, first-half revenue of GBP132.4 million declined 1.1%. On a constant currency basis, revenue grew by 1.8% and, e xcluding the impact of the year-on-year decline in cryptocurrency customer revenues, first-half growth was 3.3%. While the group continues to enjoy high levels of absolute customer retention, the group's level of revenue growth has been impacted by reductions in demand related to two headwinds as discussed above, this includes a more subdued general macroeconomic outlook and a post-pandemic reduction in activity from 'internet economy' customers, predominantly in the Americas.

During the first-half, our gross margin moderated to 69.2% (1H23: 71.1%) reflecting the revenue mix across segments and channels alongside higher cloud hosting costs. However, this was more than offset by a continued focus on driving group-wide simplicity and efficiency, as outlined above. We made excellent first-half progress; the group's adjusted operating expenses were GBP6.1 million or 8.3% lower than the prior year despite inflationary pressure. As a result, adjusted operating profit excluding the net gain on foreign exchange increased by 7.9% to GBP23.6 million, with our operating profit margin on that basis expanding by 150bps to 17.8%.

Location (27.6% of the Group's revenues)

Location had a good first-half and revenue grew 8.1% on a constant currency basis to GBP36.6 million. This reflects resilient demand across the diverse sector and geographic use cases for our location intelligence solutions with new customers and partners, including Deutsche Telekom, Credit One and Moody's Analytics, who have chosen to work with GBG to improve operational efficiency and reduce fraud through enhanced global addressing data. In addition, the effectiveness of our ongoing cross-sell and up-sell initiatives and pricing strategies have helped to offset the continued softer transactional volumes in e-commerce volumes experienced by some customers.

Identity ( 57.9% of the Group's revenues)

Overall performance for Identity in the first-half was in line with our expectations , as revenue decreased by 2.8% on a constant currency basis to GBP76.6 million . Excluding the year-on-year decline in cryptocurrency customer revenue, Identity saw a marginal decrease of 0.5%. Strong APAC growth, driven by momentum in Australia and New Zealand, was offset by the tough prior-year comparator in the Americas. We continue to drive momentum in cross-sell/up-sell activity driven by the structural growth opportunities in our markets which GBG has considerable capacity to address through its layered capabilities . We have continued to drive new logo acquisition, with diverse names such as Cash Factory and a US satellite and mobile network provider in the Americas, Standard Bank, LemFi, DAZN Bet and Instapro Group in EMEA and Australian Unity Wealth, Monash University and Tabcorp in APAC. As we move into the second half of the year, it is encouraging that, as expected, our monthly transaction volumes in Identity have now stabilised and we still expect to deliver some year-on-year revenue growth in the latter part of the year.

Fraud (14.5% of the Group's revenues)

Strong first-half constant currency revenue growth of 10.5% in Fraud was underpinned by important contract renewals and new business wins. Southeast Asia continues to be an attractive market, where our fraud prevention and detection solutions are enabling customers to effectively meet evolving compliance requirements and counter the fast-growing Identity Fraud threat, with a number of leading financial services businesses across Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand selecting GBG solutions in the first half of the year, alongside successful renewal with existing customers in APAC and EMEA.

Outlook and summary

The Board is pleased with both the strategic progress achieved and first-half financial performance against the backdrop of the continued macroeconomic conditions. Our ongoing focus on simplicity and efficiency has delivered a strong profit performance in the first-half and underpins our FY24 profit expectations, which will benefit from stronger margins in the second half. Second-half performance to date has been in-line with our expectations and we anticipate that FY24 revenue growth will be broadly in line with current expectations. The stabilisation we have seen in Identity supports our confidence in delivering some year-on-year Identity growth in the latter part of the year.

As announced on 8 November 2023, I will be retiring from GBG and my full-time executive career at the end of January 2024. I am delighted that my successor, Dev Dhiman, currently managing director of our APAC region, has been chosen and promoted from within GBG. Looking to the future, I am confident that Dev will continue to focus on the strategic progress that enables GBG to maximise the opportunity in its markets to achieve profitable growth and deliver sustainable value for shareholders.

I wish to take this final opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to the entire team at GBG for all that we have achieved together over the last seven years, and also to all of our stakeholders for their ongoing support, especially our customers who are our foremost priority. It has been a real privilege to lead this fantastic business as we have become one of the global leaders in digital identity.

Chris Clark

Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of the Board

27 November 2023

Finance review

Revenue

 
 
                                                1H24        1H23   Growth 
 ---------------------------------------  ----------  ---------- 
 Revenue                                   GBP132.4m   GBP133.8m   (1.1%) 
 Constant currency adjustment                      -   (GBP3.8m)     2.9% 
                                          ----------  ----------  ------- 
 Revenue at constant currency              GBP132.4m   GBP130.0m     1.8% 
 Revenue from cryptocurrency customers     (GBP1.4m)   (GBP3.3m)     1.5% 
                                          ----------  ----------  ------- 
 Revenue excluding cryptocurrency                         GBP126 
  customers at constant currency           GBP131.0m         .7m     3.3% 
----------------------------------------  ----------  ----------  ------- 
 

GBG delivered revenue of GBP132.4 million (1H23: GBP133.8 million), a decrease of 1.1% on a reported basis, but representing growth of 1.8% at constant currency. Excluding the impact of the year-on-year decline in cryptocurrency customer revenues, first-half growth was 3.3%.

In the first-half, 94.3% (1H23: 93.2%) of our revenue came from the combination of subscription and consumption revenue models which demonstrates GBG's attractive, repeatable and cash-generative business model. Of this, software subscription (1) revenue contributed GBP74.4 million, representing growth of 2.0%. Revenue from transaction/consumption of our solutions added a further GBP50.5 million, a decrease of 2.6%. Non-repeatable revenue streams, typically services, hardware and implementation fees, amounted to GBP7.5 million in the period (1H23: GBP9.0m).

Profitability

Gross margin was 69.2% (1H23: 71.1%) reflecting the revenue mix in the period both across our segments but also between direct and partner channels, in addition to an increase in cloud hosting costs.

 
                                                    1H24       1H23 
                                               --------- 
 Adjusted operating profit excluding FX gain    GBP23.6m   GBP21.8m 
 Adjusted operating profit excluding FX gain 
  margin                                           17.8%      16.3% 
 
 Net gain on foreign currency                    GBP0.3m    GBP6.3m 
 Adjusted operating profit                      GBP23.9m   GBP28.1m 
---------------------------------------------  --------- 
 

The prior year included an unusually large FX gain of GBP6.3 million, primarily related to the retranslation of intercompany loans. The FX gain this year was GBP0.3 million and therefore overall adjusted operating profit has declined year-on-year.

Adjusted operating profit excluding gains on foreign currency for the first-half increased by 7.9% to GBP23.6 million (1H23: GBP21.8 million), which represents a margin of 17.8% (1H23: 16.3%). This improvement reflects a focus on cost efficiency with disciplined prioritisation of investment to capitalise on our long-term market opportunities.

 
                                       1H24         1H23   Change          FY23 
 -----------------------------  -----------  -----------  ------- 
 Reported operating expenses      GBP144.1m     GBP99.3m              GBP313.5m 
                                -----------  -----------           ------------ 
 Amortisation of acquired        (GBP20.1m)   (GBP21.3m)             (GBP42.8m) 
  intangibles 
 Equity-settled share-based            0.1m    (GBP2.7m)              (GBP2.3m) 
  payments 
 Impairment of goodwill          (GBP54.7m)            -            (GBP122.2m) 
 Other exceptional items          (GBP1.8m)    (GBP1.5m)              (GBP5.0m) 
                                -----------  -----------           ------------ 
 Adjusted operating expenses       GBP67.6m     GBP73.7m   (8.3%)     GBP141.2m 
------------------------------  -----------  -----------  -------  ------------ 
 

Despite inflationary pressures our adjusted operating expenses were GBP6.1 million or 8.3% lower than the prior year. A key contributing factor to this has been our ongoing strategic focus on simplicity and efficiency. As a result of considered management of our team member recruitment and replacement of leavers, alongside a limited number of redundancies, our total headcount of 1,183 people on 30 September 2023 represents a 9% reduction since March 2022. In addition to a reduction in our people costs, savings have also been made through reviewing our physical office footprint and controlling discretionary spend in areas such as marketing and travel.

Further m argin improvement is expected by the full year as our second-half revenues are traditionally stronger than the first-half, additionally, there will be a full six-month benefit of the cost reduction measures taken at different points during the first-half. Our continued focus on group-wide efficiencies and disciplined cost control underpins the Board's confidence that GBG will deliver its FY24 profit expectations.

 
 
                                               1H24         1H23 
                                        ----------- 
 Adjusted operating profit                 GBP23.9m     GBP28.1m 
 Amortisation of acquired intangibles    (GBP20.1m)   (GBP21.3m) 
 Equity-settled share-based payments        GBP0.1m    (GBP2.7m) 
 Exceptional items 
  Impairment of goodwill                 (GBP54.7m)            - 
  Other exceptional items                 (GBP1.8m)    (GBP1.5m) 
                                        -----------  ----------- 
 Operating (loss)/profit                 (GBP52.6m)      GBP2.5m 
 Net finance costs                        (GBP4.7m)    (GBP2.6m) 
 Income tax credit/(charge)                 GBP2.1m    (GBP0.7m) 
 Loss after tax                          (GBP55.2m)    (GBP0.8m) 
--------------------------------------  ----------- 
 

On a reported basis, there was an operating loss of GBP52.6 million (1H23: GBP2.5 million profit) after taking account of GBP76.5 million of costs (1H23: GBP25.5 million) for amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payments and exceptional items. Of these costs, GBP74.7 million (1H23: GBP25.2 million) were non-cash items. The operating loss is primarily as a result of the GBP54.7 million non-cash impairment of goodwill detailed below.

Impairment of goodwill

Significant increases to central bank interest rates since 31 March 2023 have resulted in an increase in the pre-tax discount rate applied to the US cashflows in our impairment assessment, from 12.3% at 31 March 2023 to 13.0%, which has resulted in an exceptional non-cash goodwill impairment charge of GBP54.7 million. More detail can be found in Note 13 to the accounts.

Net finance costs

The net finance charge of GBP4.7 million was GBP2.1 million higher than the prior year, with GBP4.3 million (1H23: GBP2.1 million) of the cost relating to interest on the variable rate Revolving Credit Facility. The increase is due to the changes in interest rates relative to the prior year, with the US Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) increasing from 2.98% on 30 September 2022 to 5.31% on 30 September 2023.

Taxation

The tax credit for the six-month period was GBP2.1 million (1H23: GBP0.7 million charge). The tax charge on adjusted profit before tax was GBP6.0 million (1H23: GBP6.7 million), representing an effective tax rate of 31.2% (1H23: 26.4%). The main drivers of the rise in the adjusted effective rate of tax is an increase in the UK statutory tax rate from 19% to 25% from 1 April 2023 as well as the impact on deferred tax assets of US State tax rate changes. The tax rate attributable to US State taxes has fallen largely due to changes in the calculation method for some US States. GBG Americas has significant deferred tax assets that have been revalued at the lower tax rate resulting in a tax charge that is fully recognised as a discrete item in the six months ended 30 September 2023.

Our guidance for the full year effective tax rate remains unchanged in the range of 25% - 27%.

Earnings per share

Diluted EPS is a loss of 21.8 pence per share (1H23: loss of 0.3 pence per share), primarily due to the non-cash impairment of goodwill charge.

Adjusted diluted EPS of 5.1 pence per share (1H23: 7.3 pence per share) declined year on year due to the reduction in the reported adjusted operating profit (which includes the unusually large FX gain in the prior year) as well as the impact of the higher interest expense cost explained above.

Group cash flow and balance sheet

GBG remains focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet to support sustainable growth.

During the first six months of the year, the Group's operating activities before tax payments generated GBP22.9 million of cash and cash equivalents (1H23: GBP15.3 million) with strong year-to-date EBITDA to cash conversion of 102.0% at 30 September 2023 compared to 57.5% at 30 September 2022. This improvement was due to a number of specific non-recurring factors which distorted the cash conversion in the prior period, with the 1H24 performance more reflective of historic levels.

During the period to 30 September 2023, net repayments against the revolving credit facility were GBP5.0 million, resulting in outstanding balances of $139 million (31 March 2023: $149 million) and GBP10 million (31 March 2023: GBP7 million).

Overall, our net debt at 30 September 2023 decreased by GBP1.2 million since 31 March 2023 to GBP104.8 million. This was despite a negative GBP1.4 million translation impact from the conversion of the US denominated debt into pound sterling, the GBP10.1 million full year dividend payment, GBP1.2 million payment of contingent consideration related to the Cloudcheck acquisition in February 2022 and exceptional cash costs of GBP2.8 million.

We expect one-off cash costs such as those above to be lower in the second half and therefore anticipate continued strong cash generation will enable us to reduce net debt more substantially by the year-end, reducing the impact of high interest rates. Between 30 September 2023 and the date of this report, further repayments of $3m and GBP3m have already been made, while our cash generation has enabled the current net debt position to reduce to approximately GBP95 million.

We were very pleased that on 27 October 2023, we agreed the second of two one-year extension options on our existing Revolving Credit Facility, so that the Group has access to a GBP175 million facility until July 2026 and a GBP140 million facility until July 2027.

David Ward

Chief Financial Officer

On behalf of the Board

27 November 2023

Notes: (1) Software subscriptions can be term-based where the agreement entitles the customer to use a GBG solution for a fixed period of time (fair use volume limits applies) or consumption-based, whereby a customer buys usage credits in advance which entitle them to use of GBG's solutions up to a fixed quantity (and within a fixed time period).

 
 Condensed Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss 
 For the six months ended 30 September 2023 
  Unaudited 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
                                                                                                     ear to 
 
                                                          Unaudited                  Unaudited      Audited 
                                                           6 months                   6 months      Year to 
                                                                 to                         to     31 March 
                                              Note     30 September               30 September 
                                                               2023                       2022         2023 
                                                            GBP'000                    GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
Revenue                                        5            132,360                    133,816      278,810 
 
Cost of sales                                              (40,773)                   (38,723)     (80,994) 
                                                     --------------      ---------------------   ---------- 
 
Gross profit                                                 91,587                     95,093      197,816 
 
Operating expenses                                        (144,141)                   (99,251)    (313,481) 
 
Net gain on foreign exchange                                    348                      6,227        3,022 
 
(Increase)/decrease in expected credit 
 losses of trade receivables                                  (430)                        460          214 
 
 
                                               5, 
Group operating (loss)/profit                   6          (52,636)                      2,529    (112,429) 
 
Finance income                                 7                106                         28          636 
 
Finance costs                                  8            (4,752)                    (2,581)      (7,037) 
 
Loss before tax                                            (57,282)                       (24)    (118,830) 
 
Income tax credit/(charge)                     9              2,132                      (725)        (964) 
                                                     --------------      ---------------------   ---------- 
 
Loss after tax for the period attributable 
 to equity holders of the parent                           (55,150)                      (749)    (119,794) 
                                                     ==============      =====================   ========== 
 
Group operating (loss)/profit                              (52,636)                      2,529    (112,429) 
 
Amortisation of acquired intangibles                         20,117                     21,296       42,758 
 
Equity-settled share-based payments            19             (138)                      2,727        2,313 
 
Exceptional items                              4 
                                                             54,707                          -      122,225 
       *    impairment of goodwill                            1,853                      1,513        4,950 
 
 
        *    other exceptional items 
Adjusted operating profit                                    23,903                     28,065       59,817 
                                              ----   --------------      --------------------- 
 
 
  Earnings per share 
    - basic loss per share for the period      10           (21.8)p                     (0.3)p      (47.5)p 
    - diluted loss per share for the period    10           (21.8)p                     (0.3)p      (47.5)p 
    - adjusted basic earnings per share 
     for the period                            10              5.2p                       7.5p        16.7p 
    - adjusted diluted earnings per share 
     for the period                            10              5.1p                       7.3p        16.4p 
 
 
 
 
 Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 
 For the six months ended 30 September 2023 
  Unaudited 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 
                                                    Unaudited             Unaudited     Audited 
                                                     6 months              6 months     Year to 
                                                           to                    to    31 March 
                                                 30 September          30 September 
                                                         2023                  2022        2023 
                                                      GBP'000               GBP'000     GBP'000 
 
 
Loss after tax for the period attributable 
 to equity holders of the parent                     (55,150)                 (749)   (119,794) 
                                               --------------  --------------------  ---------- 
 
Other comprehensive income: 
 
Fair value movement on investments                    (1,600)                   700         700 
 
Exchange differences on retranslation 
 of foreign operations (net of tax)                     5,465               111,237      35,060 
                                               --------------  --------------------  ---------- 
 
Total comprehensive (expense)/income 
 for the period attributable to equity 
 holders of the parent                               (51,285)               111,188    (84,034) 
                                               ==============  ====================  ========== 
 

Upon disposal of investments held at fair value through other comprehensive income or foreign operations, these elements of other comprehensive income will be recycled to the Consolidated statement of profit or loss.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 30 September 2023

Unaudited

 
 
                                                                Other reserves 
                                              --------------------------------------------------- 
                                                                             Foreign 
                           Equity                              Capital      currency                      Total 
                            share      Share    Merger      redemption   translation     Treasury         other    Retained      Total 
                          capital    premium   reserve         reserve       reserve       shares      reserves    earnings     equity 
                   Note   GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000         GBP'000       GBP'000      GBP'000       GBP'000     GBP'000    GBP'000 
 
Balance at 1 
 April 2022                 6,297    566,769    99,999               3         1,423            -       101,425     112,636    787,127 
Loss for the 
 period                         -          -         -               -             -            -             -       (749)      (749) 
Other 
 comprehensive 
 income                         -          -         -               -       111,237            -       111,237         700    111,937 
                         --------   --------  --------   -------------  ------------  -----------   -----------   ---------  --------- 
Total 
 comprehensive 
 income/(expense) 
 for the period                 -          -         -               -       111,237            -       111,237        (49)    111,188 
Issue of share 
 capital                       11        519         -               -             -            -             -           -        530 
Investment in own 
 shares                         -          -         -               -             -      (2,500)       (2,500)           -    (2,500) 
Cost of employee 
 benefit trust 
 shares issued to 
 employees                      -          -         -               -             -          945           945       (937)          8 
Share-based 
 payments                       -          -         -               -             -            -             -       2,727      2,727 
Tax on share 
 options                        -          -         -               -             -            -             -        (50)       (50) 
Equity dividend     11          -          -         -               -             -            -             -     (9,600)    (9,600) 
                                                                                      -----------   ----------- 
Balance at 30 
 September 2022             6,308    567,288    99,999               3       112,660      (1,555)       211,107     104,727    889,430 
Loss for the 
 period                         -          -         -               -             -            -             -   (119,045)  (119,045) 
Other 
 comprehensive 
 expense                        -          -         -               -      (76,177)            -      (76,177)           -   (76,177) 
                         --------   --------  --------   -------------  ------------  -----------   -----------   ---------  --------- 
Total 
 comprehensive 
 expense for the 
 period                         -          -         -               -      (76,177)            -      (76,177)   (119,045)  (195,222) 
 
  Issue of share 
  capital                       3        293         -               -             -            -             -           -        296 
Cost of employee 
 benefit trust 
 shares issued to 
 employees                      -          -         -               -             -          481           481       (480)          1 
Share-based 
 payments                       -          -         -               -             -            -             -       (414)      (414) 
Tax on share 
 options                        -          -         -               -             -            -             -        (93)       (93) 
Net share 
 forfeiture 
 receipt                        -          -         -               -             -            -             -         146        146 
Equity dividend                 -          -         -               -             -            -             -           -          - 
                                                                                      -----------   ----------- 
Balance at 1 
 April 2023                 6,311    567,581    99,999               3        36,483      (1,074)       135,411    (15,159)    694,144 
Loss for the 
 period                         -          -         -               -             -            -             -    (55,150)   (55,150) 
Other 
 comprehensive 
 income                         -          -         -               -         5,465            -         5,465     (1,600)      3,865 
                         --------   --------  --------   -------------  ------------  -----------   -----------   ---------  --------- 
Total 
 comprehensive 
 (expense)/income 
 for the period                 -          -         -               -         5,465            -         5,465    (56,750)   (51,285) 
Issue of share 
capital                         3          -         -               -             -            -             -           -          3 
Cost of employee 
 benefit trust 
 shares issued to 
 employees                      -          -         -               -             -          458           458       (451)          7 
Share-based 
 payments                       -          -         -               -             -            -             -       (138)      (138) 
Tax on share 
 options                        -          -         -               -             -            -             -          16         16 
Net share 
 forfeiture 
 refund                         -          -         -               -             -            -             -        (36)       (36) 
Equity dividend     11          -          -         -               -             -            -             -    (10,093)   (10,093) 
                         --------   --------  --------   -------------  ------------  -----------   -----------   ---------  --------- 
Balance at 30 
 September 2023             6,314    567,581    99,999               3        41,948        (616)       141,334    (82,611)    632,618 
                         ========   ========  --------   -------------  ------------  -----------   -----------   =========  ========= 
 
 
 
 
   Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet 
 As at 30 September 2023 
  Unaudited 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
 
                                                                            Restated(1) 
                                                              Unaudited       Unaudited          Audited 
                                                                  As at           As at            As at 
                                                   Note    30 September    30 September         31 March 
                                                                   2023            2022             2023 
                                                                GBP'000         GBP'000          GBP'000 
ASSETS 
Non-current assets 
Goodwill                                          12            577,433         819,773          626,394 
Other intangible assets                           12            206,728         273,729          224,834 
Property, plant and equipment                     12              3,405           4,563            3,752 
Right-of-use assets                               12              1,788           2,116            1,449 
Investments                                                       1,426           3,026            3,026 
Deferred tax asset                                                  699             805              793 
Trade and other receivables                       14              5,990           1,631            4,305 
 
                                                                797,469       1,105,643          864,553 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
Current assets 
Inventories                                                       1,977           2,892            2,619 
Trade and other receivables                       14             60,698          60,096           65,313 
Current tax                                                       1,671           8,528            1,083 
Cash and cash equivalents                                        19,189          15,683           21,552 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
                                                                 83,535          87,199           90,567 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
TOTAL ASSETS                                                    881,004       1,192,842          955,120 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 
Capital and reserves 
Equity share capital                                              6,314           6,308            6,311 
Share premium                                                   567,581         567,288          567,581 
Other reserves                                                  141,334         211,107          135,411 
Retained earnings                                              (82,611)         104,727         (15,159) 
 
Total equity attributable to equity 
 holders of the parent                                          632,618         889,430          694,144 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
Non-current liabilities 
Loans and borrowings                              16            123,031         147,402          126,411 
Lease liabilities                                                   650           1,008              524 
Provisions                                                          775             777              792 
Deferred revenue                                                  2,088           1,739            1,492 
Contingent consideration                          17                  -           1,890                - 
Deferred tax liability                                           30,085          46,208           34,986 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
                                                                156,629         199,024          164,205 
Current liabilities 
Lease liabilities                                                 1,266           1,749            1,242 
Provisions                                                            -              13                - 
Trade and other payables                          15             35,691          37,612           37,312 
Deferred revenue                                                 52,976          56,448           55,015 
Contingent consideration                          17                  -           6,521            1,237 
Current tax                                                       1,824           2,045            1,965 
 
                                                                 91,757         104,388           96,771 
 
TOTAL LIABILITIES                                               248,386         303,412          260,976 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES                                    881,004       1,192,842          955,120 
                                                         --------------  --------------  --------------- 
 
   (1) The period to 30 September 2022 has been restated for a reclassification 
   of deferred tax balances (see note 9) and reclassification of prepayment 
   and accrued income balances between current and non-current assets 
   (see note 14). 
 
   Condensed Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 
 For the six months ended 30 September 2023 
  Unaudited 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 
                                                              Unaudited       Unaudited     Audited 
                                                               6 months        6 months     Year to 
                                                                     to              to    31 March 
                                                           30 September    30 September        2023 
                                               Note                2023            2022 
                                                                GBP'000         GBP'000     GBP'000 
 
Group loss before tax                                          (57,282)            (24)   (118,830) 
 
Adjustments to reconcile Group loss 
 before tax to net cash flows 
Finance income                                                    (106)            (28)       (636) 
Finance costs                                                     4,752           2,581       7,037 
Depreciation of plant and equipment             12                  681             805       1,771 
Depreciation of right-of-use assets             12                  601             788       1,491 
Amortisation of intangible assets               12               20,131          21,347      42,826 
Impairment of goodwill & intangible 
 assets                                         4                54,707               -     125,022 
Impairment of right-of-use assets                                     -             202           - 
Loss on disposal of plant and equipment 
 & intangible assets                                                  -             193         379 
Loss on disposal of businesses                                        -              18         113 
Fair value adjustment on contingent 
 consideration                                                        -             483     (1,660) 
Unrealised gain on foreign exchange                               (292)         (5,605)     (3,512) 
Share-based payments (credit)/charge                              (138)           2,727       2,313 
Decrease/(increase) in inventories                                  631         (1,437)     (1,448) 
Increase/(decrease) in provisions                                   598             544        (47) 
Decrease/(increase) in trade and other 
 receivables                                                      2,474          11,749        (20) 
Decrease in trade and other payables                            (3,815)        (19,005)    (16,229) 
 
Cash generated from operations                                   22,942          15,338      38,570 
Income tax paid                                                 (3,392)         (4,117)     (4,263) 
                                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
Net cash generated from operating activities                     19,550          11,221      34,307 
                                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
Cash flows (used in)/from investing 
 activities 
 
Acquisition of subsidiaries, net of 
 cash acquired                                                  (1,200)               -     (4,991) 
Purchase of plant and equipment                 12                (227)           (593)       (968) 
Purchase of software                            12                  (7)            (50)        (57) 
Proceeds from disposal of plant and 
 equipment                                                            1              56          79 
Net outflow from disposal of businesses                               -            (18)        (18) 
Interest received                                                    42              28         569 
 
Net cash flows (used in)/from investing 
 activities                                                     (1,391)           (577)     (5,386) 
                                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
  Cash flows (used in)/from financing 
  activities 
 
Finance costs paid                                              (4,443)         (2,247)     (6,426) 
Proceeds from issue of shares                                         3             535         826 
Purchase of shares by Employee Benefit 
 Trust                                                                -         (2,500)     (2,500) 
(Refund)/proceeds from share forfeiture                            (36)               -         146 
Proceeds from borrowings (net of arrangement 
 fee)                                           16               10,000          10,000      12,000 
Repayment of borrowings                         16             (14,960)        (13,273)    (22,394) 
Repayment of lease liabilities                                    (821)         (1,075)     (2,062) 
Dividends paid to equity shareholders           11             (10,093)         (9,600)     (9,600) 
 
Net cash flows (used in)/from financing 
 activities                                                    (20,350)        (18,160)    (30,010) 
                                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents                       (2,191)         (7,516)     (1,089) 
Effect of exchange rates                                          (172)             897         339 
 
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning 
 of the period                                                   21,552          22,302      22,302 
                                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
Cash and cash equivalents at the end 
 of the period                                                   19,189          15,683      21,552 
                                                         ==============  ==============  ========== 
 
 

Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements

1. CORPORATE INFORMATION

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements of GB Group plc ('the Group') for the six months ended 30 September 2023 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the directors on 27 November 2023 and are unaudited but have been reviewed by the auditor, PwC LLP and their report to the Company is set out at the end of these condensed consolidated interim financial statements.

GB Group plc is a public limited company incorporated in the United Kingdom whose shares are publicly traded on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

2. BASIS OF PREPARATION AND ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Preparation

These condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 September 2023 have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting'. Th e annual financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards, as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006.

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements are presented in pounds Sterling and all values are rounded to the nearest thousand (GBP'000) except when otherwise indicated.

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements do not constitute statutory financial statements as defined in section 435 of the Companies Act 2006 and therefore do not include all the information and disclosures required in the annual financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Group's annual financial statements as at 31 March 2023. The financial information for the preceding year is based on the statutory financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023. These financial statements, upon which the auditors issued an unqualified opinion, have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. These financial statements did not require a statement under either section 498(2) or section 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

Going Concern

An extensive review of the going concern assumption was conducted prior to the approval of the 31 March 2023 Annual Report. This review has been extended through to 31 March 2025 and updated for the actual Group results for the first six months of FY24 as well as wider macro-economic changes.

The potential scenarios which could lead to GBG not being a going concern, which remain unchanged from the year-end, are considered to be:

-- Not having sufficient cash to meet our liabilities as they fall due and therefore not being able to provide services to our customers, pay our employees or meet financing obligations.

-- A non-remedied breach of the financial covenants within the Group Revolving Credit Facility ('RCF') agreement. Under the terms of the agreement this would lead to the outstanding balance becoming due for immediate repayment. These covenants are:

-- Leverage - consolidated net borrowings (outstanding loans less current cash balance) as a multiple of adjusted consolidated EBITDA for the last 12 months, assessed quarterly in arrears, must not exceed 3.00:1.00

-- Interest cover - adjusted consolidated EBITDA as a multiple of consolidated net finance charges, for the last 12 months, assessed quarterly in arrears, must not fall below 4.00:1.00

At 30 September 2023, the leverage ratio was 1.79:1.00 and the interest cover was 6.86 times.

The RCF facility has a maximum level of GBP175 million which could be drawn down for working capital purposes if required. At 30 September 2023, the available undrawn facility was GBP51.7 million compared to GBP47.5m at the last year end. Following bank approval in October 2023 for the exercise of the one-year extension on the, the Group has access to a GBP175 million facility until July 2026 and GBP140 million facility until July 2027.

The base case model has been updated at the half-year for the actuals to 30 September 2023 and the latest forecasts through to 31 March 2025. Under the updated base case and a range of potential downside scenarios, the Group continues to have strong liquidity and financial covenant headroom under its debt facilities. The main changes to the base case model since the last extensive review included:

-- The actual revenue performance for the six months showed overall revenue growth of 3.3% on a constant currency basis and excluding crypto currency customers. This compared to 3.7% in FY23. Revenue growth has continued to be impacted due to macro-economic uncertainty which has reduced transaction volumes in the identity businesses, although Location and Fraud have continued to show strong growth. While revenue growth is still expected to improve in the second half of the year, FY24 revenue is now likely to be marginally lower than the assumption used in the year-end model.

-- In response to the marginally lower revenue performance the Group has taken action to reduce costs in order to maintain profitability. As a consequence of these measures the Group still expects year-end adjusted operating profit to be in line with those used in the year-end going concern model.

-- In addition to the revenue and adjusted operating profit performance, the Group has continued to successfully convert this trading performance into cash. For the year to date, cash conversion was 102.0% compared to 57.5% for H1FY23. In the first half of the year free cashflow was reduced by the payment of dividends and year-end bonuses. We would expect to repay more of the RCF in the second half of the year than the GBP4.9m made in the first half and since the period end further repayments of $3m and GBP3m have already been made.

The downside scenarios included modelling for potential increases in costs, increases in interest rates as well as reduced revenue growth both on an overall group basis and specific to certain areas of the business.

The model was adjusted to assess what level of decline in organic revenue against the base model would be required to result in a covenant breach. This shows that it would take a decline of 22% in organic revenue to result in a breach, which would occur as at 31 March 2025. This is on the assumption that management implemented a reduction in overheads of 13% which is considered possible without causing significant disruption to the business in those circumstances.

Based on the current trading performance and through reference to current forecast and market consensus, a decline of anywhere near 22% is considered by the Directors to be remote. In such a scenario, certain cash conservation measures in management's control would be implemented well in advance of the covenant breach such as either not declaring or reducing future final dividend payments. In addition, the range of mitigating actions detailed in the 2023 Annual Report remain available, albeit these are not entirely within management's control. This includes, for example, requesting a delay to UK tax payments, raising cash through an equity placing and disposal of part of the business.

Following review of future forecasts and applying reasonable and extreme sensitivities, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for a period of at least 12 months from the date of authorising the condensed consolidated interim financial statements. For these reasons, the Board continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the interim financial statements.

Accounting Policies

The accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the condensed consolidated interim financial statements are consistent with those followed in the preparation of the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 with the exception of taxes. Consistent with previous half year reports, taxes on income in the interim period are accrued using the tax rate that would be applicable to expected total annual profits or losses.

The Group has not early adopted any standard, interpretation or amendment that has been issued but is not yet effective. No newly introduced standard or amendments to standards had a material impact on the condensed consolidated interim financial statements.

Judgements and Estimates

The preparation of interim financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expense. Actual results may differ from these estimates. Full details of significant accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions used in the application of the Group's accounting policies can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023.

In preparing these condensed consolidated interim financial statements, the significant judgements made by management in applying the Group's accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty were the same as those applied to the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Significant Estimates

Impairment of Goodwill

The Group's policy is to test goodwill for impairment annually, or if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of these assets may not be recoverable. The Group has considered whether there have been any indicators of impairment during the 6 months to 30 September 2023, which would require an impairment review to be performed. The Group has considered indicators of impairment with regard to a number of factors, including those outlined in IAS 36 Impairment of Assets.

As result of increased discount rate assumptions used in the value in use calculations, driven by increases in underlying risk-free rates, there was considered to be potential indicator of impairment for the Identity - Americas and Identity - APAC groups of CGUs as at 30 September 2023. Whilst the macro-economic impacts during this period could represent a potential indicator of impairment for other CGUs, their performance since the year-end and future forecasts are either in line or ahead of those in the previous impairment review. Therefore, a full impairment review was not required. Based upon this review, the Group has concluded that there were only indicators of impairment in relation to the Identity - Americas and Identity - APAC groups of CGUs as at 30 September 2023.

Determining whether goodwill is impaired requires an estimation of the recoverable amount of the group of CGUs to which the goodwill has been allocated. Recoverable amount has been determined on the basis of value in use, which requires an estimate of the present value of future cash flows expected to arise from the group of CGUs, by applying an appropriate discount rate to the timing and amount of future cash flows.

Management are required to make judgements regarding the timing and amount of future cash flows applicable to the CGU, based on current budgets and forecasts, and extrapolated for an appropriate period taking into account growth rates and expected changes to sales and operating costs. In making these estimates management have assessed the sensitivity of the assets to a wider range of changes in the key inputs to consider if an impairment would arise within these ranges.

Management estimate the appropriate discount rate using pre-tax rates that reflect current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the business or the group of CGUs.

An analysis of the goodwill allocated to the Identity - Americas and Identity - APAC groups of CGUs and the assumptions used to test for impairment are set out in note 13.

3. RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Management identifies and assesses risks to the business using an established control model. The Group has a number of exposures which can be summarised as follows: risk of a reduction in revenue from existing customers caused by external factors, information security and the threat of cyber-attacks, the threat of competition, people risks associated with the failure to attract and retain top talent, financial risks, technology risk and loss, the risk of unplanned interruption on critical operations, and non-compliance with legal requirements and privacy rules and regulations. These risks and uncertainties facing our business were reported in detail in the 2023 Annual Report and Accounts and all of them are monitored closely by the Group.

For more details on the outlook for the Group and the risks and uncertainties for the next 6 months see the Chief Executive Officer's review.

4. EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS

 
 
 
 
                                                         2                1            2 
 
                                                 Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                                  6 months         6 months      Year to 
                                                        to               to     31 March 
                                              30 September     30 September         2023 
                                                      2023             2022 
                                                   GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 (a) Integration costs                                 322              247          686 
 (b) Costs associated with team member 
  reorganisations                                    1,513               77        1,813 
 (c) Rationalisation of office locations                18              215          391 
 (d) Impairment of goodwill                         54,707                -      122,225 
 (e) Impairment of intangibles                           -                -        2,797 
 (f) Loss on disposal of businesses                      -                -          113 
 (g) Acquisition related costs                           -              737      (1,087) 
 (h) Write off of cloud-based software                   -              237          237 
 Total exceptional costs                            56,560            1,513      127,175 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 

(a) Integration costs have been incurred in relation to the integration of the Acuant and Cloudcheck acquisitions. This principally relates to consultancy fees paid to advisors in running programmes to deliver revenue and cost synergies from the acquisitions, travel for specific integration meetings, costs relating to the alignment of global systems and business operations, the costs of additional other temporary resources required for the integration and claims associated with the pre acquisition period. In the period to 30 September 2023, the Group expensed GBP322,000 (2022: GBP247,000) relating to the integration of Acuant and Cloudcheck.

(b) Costs associated with team member reorganisations relate to exit costs of personnel leaving the business on an involuntary basis, either as a result of integrating acquisitions or due to reorganisations within our operating divisions. Due to the nature of these costs, management deem them to be exceptional in order to better reflect our underlying performance. Exit costs outside of these circumstances are treated as an operating expense.

(c) During the year to 31 March 2023, a project was started to rationalise the Group's office locations. In the period to 30 September 2023, the Group expensed GBP18,000 (2022: GBP215,000) following the exit of a leased building. Due to the nature of these costs, management deem them to be exceptional in order to better reflect our underlying performance. Costs are anticipated to continue until the end of the year ended 31 March 2024.

(d) As part of the Group's annual impairment testing in the prior year, it was identified that the goodwill allocated to the Identity - Americas group of CGUs was impaired and an impairment charge of GBP122,225,000 was recognised in the year to 31 March 2023. Due to increases in discount rates during the 6 months to 30 September 2023, an additional impairment charge of GBP58,895,000 was recognised during this period.

(e) During the year to 31 March 2023, as part of the continued integration of Acuant and simplification of our brands in the Americas region, Acuant was rebranded as IDology. As a result, the value of the Acuant brand included within acquired intangibles was considered to be GBPnil and an impairment charge of GBP2,797,000 was recognised.

(f) Acquisition related costs of GBPnil (2022: GBP737,000). During the period to 30 September 2022, acquisition related costs included:

-- Foreign exchange movement on contingent consideration (see note 17). The contingent consideration liabilities related to IDology and Cloudcheck are based on the US Dollar and New Zealand dollar respectively. As a result, the liabilities were retranslated at the balance sheet date with a loss of GBP483,000 being treated as an exceptional item.

-- During the period to 30 September 2022, legal and professional advisor costs directly attributable to the acquisition of Acuant and the possible offer by GTCR to acquire GBG of GBP254,000.

-- During the year to 31 March 2023, a fair value reassessment was made to the Cloudcheck contingent consideration liability. Based on actual performance in the period following acquisition, it was determined that the performance criteria would not be met in full and a credit of GBP2,753,000 was taken within exceptional items. The contingent consideration in respect of pre-acquisition tax losses within IDology Inc was also settled during the year, with an additional charge of GBP806,000 being recognised in exceptional items.

(g) During the year to 31 March 2021, the business disposed of its Marketing Services and Employ and Comply businesses which resulted in an overall profit on disposal. In the year to 31 March 2023, additional costs of GBP113,000 were incurred in relation to the finalisation of the disposal of these businesses.

(h) During the period to 30 September 2022, a write off of cloud-based software of GBP237,000 was recognised. A final agenda decision by the IFRS Interpretations Committee clarified that configuration or customisation costs from cloud computing arrangements do not usually meet the definition of intangible assets under IAS 38 Intangible Assets and therefore should not be capitalised. As a result, previously capitalised costs that did not satisfy the clarified recognition criteria were written off.

5. SEGMENTAL INFORMATION

The Group's operating segments are aggregated and internally reported to the Group's Chief Executive Officer as three reportable segments: Location, Identity and Fraud on the basis that they provide similar products and services.

'Central overheads' represents group operating costs such as technology, compliance, finance, legal, people team, information security, premises, directors' remuneration and PLC costs.

The measure of performance of those segments that is reported to the Group's Chief Executive Officer is adjusted operating profit, being profits before amortisation of acquired intangibles, equity-settled share-based payments, exceptional items, net finance costs and tax, as shown below. Information on segment assets and liabilities is not regularly provided to the Group's Chief Executive Officer and is therefore not disclosed below.

 
 
 
                                                                             Unaudited 
                                      Location      Identity         Fraud       Total 
 Six months ended                      GBP'000       GBP'000       GBP'000     GBP'000 
  30 September 2023 
 Subscription revenues: 
  Consumption-based                      8,081        13,582           793      22,456 
  Term-based                            24,663        11,637        15,621      51,921 
                                --------------  ------------  ------------  ---------- 
 Total subscription 
  revenues                              32,744        25,219        16,414      74,377 
 Consumption                             3,359        46,185           957      50,501 
 Other                                     482         5,180         1,820       7,482 
 Total revenue                          36,585        76,584        19,191     132,360 
                                --------------  ------------  ------------  ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit before 
  central overheads                     12,950        18,694         5,927      37,571 
 Central overheads                                                            (13,586) 
 Foreign exchange 
  gain                                                                             348 
 Expected credit 
  losses of trade 
  receivables                                                                    (430) 
                                                                            ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit                                                                        23,903 
 Amortisation of 
  acquired intangibles                                                        (20,117) 
 Share-based payments 
  charge                                                                           138 
 Exceptional items                                                            (56,560) 
                                                                            ---------- 
 Operating loss                                                               (52,636) 
 Finance revenue                                                                   106 
 Finance costs                                                                 (4,752) 
                                                                            ---------- 
 Loss before tax                                                              (57,282) 
 Income tax credit                                                               2,132 
                                                                            ---------- 
 Loss for the 
  period                                                                      (55,150) 
                                                                            ========== 
 
                                   -presented)   -presented)   -presented) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            Unaudited 
                            Location   Identity     Fraud       Total 
 Six months ended            GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000     GBP'000 
  30 September 2022 
 Subscription revenues: 
  Consumption-based            8,041     13,273       414      21,728 
  Term-based                  22,657     14,177    14,401      51,235 
                           ---------  ---------  --------  ---------- 
 Total subscription 
  revenues                    30,698     27,450    14,815      72,963 
 Consumption                   3,445     47,565       825      51,835 
 Other                           217      6,187     2,614       9,018 
 Total revenue                34,360     81,202    18,254     133,816 
                           ---------  ---------  --------  ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit before central 
  overheads                   11,990     23,338     4,142      39,470 
 Central overheads                                           (18,092) 
 Foreign exchange 
  gain                                                          6,227 
 Expected credit 
  losses of trade 
  receivables                                                     460 
                                                           ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit                                                       28,065 
 Amortisation of 
  acquired intangibles                                       (21,296) 
 Share-based payments 
  charge                                                      (2,727) 
 Exceptional items                                            (1,513) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Operating profit                                               2,529 
 Finance revenue                                                   28 
 Finance costs                                                (2,581) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Loss before tax                                                 (24) 
 Income tax expense                                             (725) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Profit for the 
  period                                                        (749) 
                                                           ========== 
 
                                                              Audited 
                            Location   Identity     Fraud       Total 
 Year ended 31 March         GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000     GBP'000 
  2023 
 Subscription revenues: 
  Consumption-based           16,809     27,427     1,191      45,427 
  Term-based                  53,522     27,586    30,926     112,034 
                           ---------  ---------  --------  ---------- 
 Total subscription 
  revenues                    70,331     55,013    32,117     157,461 
 Consumption                   5,917     96,269     1,648     103,834 
 Other                           642     11,447     5,426      17,515 
 Total revenue                76,890    162,729    39,191     278,810 
                           ---------  ---------  --------  ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit before central 
  overheads                   29,897     47,623    10,259      87,779 
 Central overheads                                           (31,198) 
 Foreign exchange 
  gain                                                          3,022 
 Expected credit 
  losses of trade 
  receivables                                                     214 
                                                           ---------- 
 Adjusted operating 
  profit                                                       59,817 
 Amortisation of 
  acquired intangibles                                       (42,758) 
 Share-based payments 
  charge                                                      (2,313) 
 Exceptional items                                          (127,175) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Operating loss                                             (112,429) 
 Finance revenue                                                  636 
 Finance costs                                                (7,037) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Loss before tax                                            (118,830) 
 Income tax expense                                             (964) 
                                                           ---------- 
 Loss for the year                                          (119,794) 
                                                           ========== 
 

6. OPERATING PROFIT/LOSS

 
 
 
 
                                                              2                1            2 
 
                                                      Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                                       6 months         6 months      Year to 
                                                             to               to     31 March 
   This is stated after charging/(crediting):      30 September     30 September         2023 
                                                           2023             2022 
                                                        GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Research and development costs recognised 
  as an operating expense                                 8,291           10,676       20,176 
 Other technology related costs recognised 
  as an operating expense                                16,769           17,955       33,817 
                                                ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 Total technology related costs 
  recognised as an operating expense                     25,060           28,631       53,993 
 
 Amortisation of intangible assets 
  (note 12)                                              20,131           21,347       24,968 
 Depreciation of property, plant 
  and equipment (note 12)                                   681              805        1,771 
 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 
  (note 12)                                                 601              788        1,491 
 Expense relating to short term leases                      274              534          869 
 Expense relating to low value leases                         5                4            7 
 Loss/(profit) on disposal of plant 
  and equipment and intangible 
  assets                                                      1             (42)         (60) 
 
 

The above information does not include exceptional items which have been disclosed in note 4.

7. FINANCE INCOME

 
 
 
 
                                                         2                1            2 
 
                                                 Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                                  6 months         6 months      Year to 
                                                        to               to     31 March 
                                              30 September     30 September         2023 
                                                      2023             2022 
                                                   GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Bank interest receivable                               33                4           16 
 Interest income on multi-year contracts                64               24           53 
 Tax interest receivable                                 9                -          567 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
                                                       106               28          636 
 

8. FINANCE COSTS

 
 
 
 
                                                     2                1            2 
 
                                             Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                              6 months         6 months      Year to 
                                                    to               to     31 March 
                                          30 September     30 September         2023 
                                                  2023             2022 
                                               GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Bank interest payable                           4,442            2,248        6,413 
 Interest on long service award                     11                7            9 
 Amortisation of bank loan fees                    170              170          326 
 Other interest payable                             96                -           14 
 Unwinding of discount on contingent 
  consideration liability                            -               95          165 
 Lease liability interest                           33               61          110 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
                                                 4,752            2,581        7,037 
 

9. TAXATION

The Group calculates the period income tax expense using a best estimate of the tax rate that would be applicable to the expected total earnings for the year ending 31 March 2024.

The table below shows the adjusted effective tax rate as well as the impact on the effective rate of tax of non-recurring tax items:

 
 
 
                                           Unaudited                                 Unaudited 
                                          6 months to                               6 months to 
                                       30 September 2023                         30 September 2022 
                                                             Impact                                   Impact 
                            Profit           Income    on effective     Profit                  on effective 
                            before    tax (credit)/        tax rate     before        Income        tax rate 
                               Tax           charge               %        Tax    tax charge               % 
                           GBP'000          GBP'000         GBP'000    GBP'000       GBP'000         GBP'000 
 
 Income statement         (57,282)          (2,132)            3.7%       (24)           725      (3,020.8%) 
 
 Amortisation of 
  acquired intangibles      20,117            7,775         (18.9)%     21,296         5,254        3,048.9% 
 Equity-settled 
  share-based payments       (138)            (245)            0.7%      2,727           559          (0.9%) 
 Exceptional items          56,560              605           45.7%      1,513           189          (0.8%) 
                         ---------  ---------------  --------------  ---------  ------------  -------------- 
 
 Adjusted effective 
  tax rate                  19,257            6,003           31.2%     25,512         6,727           26.4% 
 
 

The main reasons for the increase in the adjusted effective rate of tax is the increase in the UK statutory tax rate from 19% to 25% from 1 April 2023 as well as the impact on deferred tax assets of US State tax rate changes. The effective rates of State taxes applicable to US operations has fallen mainly due to changes in the calculation method for some US States. GBG Americas has significant deferred tax assets that have been revalued at the lower tax rate resulting in a tax charge that is fully recognised as a discrete item in the six months ended 30 September 2023.

Deferred tax

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets against current tax liabilities and there is an intention to settle on a net basis, and to the same fiscal authority. To that effect, the prior period presentation of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities has been restated so that, in accordance with IAS 12, deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities arising in the same tax jurisdiction have been offset. This restatement has reduced deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities by GBP23,089,000 as at 30 September 2022.

Analysed in the balance sheet, after offset of balances as:

 
 
                                                                           Restated 
                                                       Unaudited          Unaudited 
                                                    30 September       30 September 
                                                            2023               2022 
                                                         GBP'000            GBP'000 
 Deferred tax asset 
 Pre-offset of balances                                   21,283             23,894 
 Offset of balances within countries                    (20,584)           (23,089) 
 
                                                             699                805 
                                                  --------------   ---------------- 
 
                                                                        Restated 
                                                            2023               2022 
                                                         GBP'000            GBP'000 
 Deferred tax liability 
 Pre-offset of balances                                   50,669             69,297 
 Offset of balances within countries                    (20,584)           (23,089) 
 
                                                          30,085             46,208 
                                                  --------------   ---------------- 
 
 

10. EARNINGS PER ORDINARY SHARE

 
 
 
                                 Unaudited            Unaudited             Audited 
                                6 months to          6 months to            Year to 
                               30 September         30 September         31 March 2023 
                                   2023                 2022 
                              Basic    Diluted     Basic   Diluted      Basic    Diluted 
                              pence      pence     pence     pence      pence      pence 
                                per        per       per       per        per        per 
                              share      share     share     share      share      share 
 
 Loss attributable to 
  equity holders of the 
  Company                    (21.8)     (21.8)     (0.3)     (0.3)     (47.5)     (47.5) 
                          ---------  ---------  --------  --------  ---------  --------- 
 
 

Basic

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to equity holders of the Company by the basic weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period.

Diluted

Diluted earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the profit for the period attributable to equity holders of the Company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period plus the weighted average number of ordinary shares that would be issued on the conversion of all the dilutive potential ordinary shares into ordinary shares.

 
                                         Unaudited       Unaudited       Audited 
                                      30 September    30 September      31 March 
                                              2023            2022          2023 
                                               No.             No.           No. 
 
 Basic weighted average number of 
  shares in issue                      252,521,638     252,065,584   252,235,803 
 Basic weighted average number of 
  shares held by EBT                     (234,754)       (224,935)     (269,104) 
 Dilutive effect of share options        6,259,016       5,546,474     5,030,313 
                                                    -------------- 
 Diluted weighted average number 
  of shares in issue                   258,545,900     257,387,123   256,997,012 
                                    --------------  --------------  ------------ 
 

For the period ended 30 September 2023 and 30 September 2022 and year ended 31 March 2023, potential ordinary shares are anti-dilutive, as their inclusion in the diluted loss per share calculation would reduce the loss per share, and have therefore been excluded.

Adjusted

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

 
 
 
                        Unaudited                    Unaudited                       Audited 
                       6 months to                  6 months to                      Year to 
                    30 September 2023            30 September 2022                31 March 2023 
                          Basic   Diluted              Basic   Diluted                  Basic   Diluted 
                          pence     pence              pence     pence                  pence     pence 
                            per       per                per       per                    per       per 
                GBP'000   share     share    GBP'000   share     share      GBP'000     share     share 
 
   Adjusted 
   operating 
   profit        23,903     9.5       9.2     28,065    11.1      10.9       59,817      23.7      23.3 
 Less net 
  finance 
  costs         (4,646)   (1.8)     (1.8)    (2,553)   (1.0)     (1.0)      (6,401)     (2.5)     (2.5) 
 Less 
  adjusted 
  tax           (6,003)   (2.5)     (2.3)    (6,727)   (2.6)     (2.6)     (11,354)     (4.5)     (4.4) 
 Adjusted 
  earnings       13,254     5.2       5.1     18,785     7.5       7.3       42,062      16.7      16.4 
              ---------  ------  --------  ---------  ------  --------  -----------  --------  -------- 
 
 

11. DIVIDS PAID AND PROPOSED

 
 
                                              Unaudited       Unaudited     Audited 
                                               6 months        6 months     Year to 
                                                     to              to    31 March 
                                           30 September    30 September        2023 
                                                   2023            2022 
                                                GBP'000         GBP'000     GBP'000 
 Declared and paid during the period 
 Final dividend for 2023: 4.00p (2022: 
  3.81p)                                         10,093           9,600       9,600 
                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 
 Proposed for approval at AGM (not 
  recognised as a liability at 31 
  March) 
 Final dividend for 2023: 4.00p (2022: 
  3.81p)                                              -               -      10,098 
                                         --------------  --------------  ---------- 
 

12. NON-CURRENT ASSETS

 
 
 
                                                        Property, 
                                    Other intangible      plant &   Right-of-use 
                       Goodwill               assets    equipment         assets 
                        GBP'000              GBP'000      GBP'000        GBP'000 
 Cost 
 As at 1 April 
  2023                  748,756              357,807       11,467          7,153 
 Additions                    -                    7          407            944 
 Disposals                    -                    -        (311)        (2,876) 
 Foreign exchange 
  adjustment              7,437                3,385        (130)           (52) 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 At 30 September 
  2023                  756,193              361,199       11,433          5,169 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 
 
 Depreciation, impairment and amortisation 
 At 1 April 2023        122,362              132,973        7,715          5,704 
 Charge for the 
  period                      -               20,131          681            601 
 Impairment              54,707                    -            -              - 
 Disposals                    -                    -        (310)        (2,876) 
 Foreign exchange 
  adjustment              1,691                1,367         (58)           (48) 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 At 30 September 
  2023                  178,760              154,471        8,028          3,381 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 
 Net book value 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 At 30 September 
  2023                  577,433              206,728        3,405          1,788 
                    -----------  -------------------  -----------  ------------- 
 At 31 March 2023       626,394              224,834        3,752          1,449 
 

13. IMPAIRMENT ASSESSMENT

Goodwill acquired through business combinations is allocated to the CGUs that are expected to benefit from that business combination and has been allocated for impairment testing purposes to seven groups of CGUs as outlined in the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

As reported in the chief executive's officer's review, as a result of increased discount rate assumptions used in the value in use calculations, driven by increases in underlying risk-free rates, there was considered to be potential indicator of impairment for the Identity - Americas and Identity - APAC groups of CGUs as at 30 September 2023. The determination of risk-free rates has increased since 31 March 2023 due to increases in 30-year government bond yields as follows:

   -       United Kingdom: increase from 3.82% to 4.85% 
   -       United States: increase from 3.67% to 4.73% 
   -       Australia: increase from 3.85% to 4.87%. 

Whilst the macro-economic impacts during this period could represent a potential indicator of impairment for other CGUs, their performance since the year-end and future forecasts are either in line or ahead of those in the previous impairment review. Therefore, a full impairment review was not required. Therefore, the Group has concluded that there were only indicators of impairment in relation to the Identity - Americas and Identity - APAC groups of CGUs as at 30 September 2023.

The carrying value of goodwill and acquired intangible assets allocated to the assessed group of CGUs was as follows:

- Identity - Americas group of CGUs: GBP514,939,000 before goodwill impairment (31 March 2023: GBP521,913,000 after goodwill impairment)

   -       Identity - APAC group of CGUs: GBP99,753,000 (31 March 2023: GBP101,727,000) 

Key Assumptions Used in Value in Use Calculations

The key assumptions for value in use calculations are those regarding the forecast cash flows, discount rates and growth rates.

The Group prepares cash flow forecasts using:

-- budgets and forecasts approved by the Directors covering a 5 year period (of which 4.5 years remained at 30 September 2023 as the forecast is based on full financial years);

-- an appropriate extrapolation of cash flows beyond this using a combination of industry analysis of market growth rates to 2032; and

   --      a long-term average growth rate to perpetuity for the geographic market being assessed. 

Forecast revenue growth rates, margins and cash flow conversion rates were based on past experience, industry market analysis and strategic opportunities specific to the group of CGUs being assessed.

It was considered that beyond the initial period covered by budgets and forecasts, it was most appropriate to include a further period of 5 years of growth rates that are higher than the long-term average growth rate for the United States region. This was determined on the basis of multiple pieces of industry and market research covering the Identity and Identity Fraud markets which support that, over this period, this market is expected to grow at a higher rate than the long-term growth rate of the geographic market as a whole.

Beyond this forecast period, the long-term average growth rate is not greater than the average long-term retail growth rate in the territory where the group of CGUs is based: USA - 2.2%; Australia - 3.0%.

The Directors estimate discount rates using pre-tax rates that reflect current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the individual group of CGUs. Growth rates reflect long-term growth rate prospects for the economy in which the group of CGUs operates.

 
 
                            30 September 2023                          31 March 2023 
                     Pre-tax     Revenue         Growth     Pre-tax     Revenue             Growth 
                    Discount      Growth           rate    Discount      Growth               rate 
                        rate        rate            (in        rate        rate    (in perpetuity) 
                                   (2029    perpetuity)                   (2028 
                                to 2032)                               to 2032) 
                           %           %              %           %           %                  % 
 
 Identity - 
  Americas Unit        13.0%       14.7%           2.2%       12.3%       14.7%               2.4% 
 Identity - 
  APAC Unit            14.1%       12.0%           3.0%       13.6%       12.5%               3.6% 
 

The Group has considered the impact of changes in future cash flows and key assumptions on the base case value in use model and has run a number of sensitivities to create sensitised value in use models that incorporate movements in discrete assumptions. This has been included applying the cumulative impact of:

-- Increasing pre-tax discount rates by 50bps (31 March 2023: 25bps), to reflect potential increases in government bond yields and associated risk-free rates;

-- Decreasing average annual growth forecasts to between 2029 and 2032 by 50bps (31 March 2023: 50 bps), to reflect the potential for a worse than predicted market outlook; and

-- Decreasing long term growth rates by 25bps (31 March 2023: 25bps), to reflect a worse than predicted long term global economic outlook.

It was not deemed necessary to sensitise the operating margin of the CGU given the strategy for growth. Despite the forecast growth the unsensitised forecast cashflows do not assume any operating leverage which would increase operating profit margins. Management determined that should growth be slower than estimated then there was adequate headroom in the estimates of costs that operating margins could be preserved.

The (impairment)/headroom (i.e. the excess of the value of discounted future cash flows over the carrying amount of the group of CGUs) under both the base case and sensitised worst-case scenario is below:

 
 
                                31 September 2023             31 March 2023 
                                 Base   Sensitised(2)        Base   Sensitised(2) 
                              Case(1)         GBP'000     Case(1)         GBP'000 
                              GBP'000                     GBP'000 
 
 Identity - Americas Unit    (54,707)        (90,531)   (122,208)       (157,506) 
 Identity - APAC Unit          20,495          12,126       2,741         (2,776) 
 

(1) The excess of the recoverable amount over the carrying amount of the group of CGUs before applying sensitivities

(2) Headroom after adjusting future cash flows and key assumptions to create a sensitised value in use model

The review for the Identity - APAC group of CGUs indicated that the recoverable amount exceeded the carrying value by GBP20,495,000 whereas the carrying value of the Identity - Americas group of CGUs has been reduced to its recoverable amount through the recognition of an impairment charge of GBP54,707,000.

The sensitised scenario would lead to further impairment of GBP35,824,000 for Identity - Americas. Therefore, a reasonably change in the value of key assumptions could cause a CGU carrying amount to exceed its recoverable amount.

When considering goodwill impairment, the break-even rate at which headroom within the group of CGUs is reduced to GBPnil, if all other assumptions remain unchanged, has also been considered. This has been included for illustrative purposes and does not reflect a reasonably foreseeable change in assumptions.

 
 
                      30 September                        31 March 2023 
                          2023 
                                            Revenue                              Revenue 
                               Decrease      Growth                 Decrease      Growth 
                   Pre-tax      in Base        Rate     Pre-tax      in Base        Rate 
                  Discount         Case       (2029    Discount         Case       (2028 
                      Rate    Cashflows    to 2032)        Rate    Cashflows    to 2032) 
 
 Identity              n/a          n/a         n/a         n/a          n/a         n/a 
  - Americas 
  Unit 
 Identity 
  - APAC Unit        16.0%      (11.0%)        6.9%       13.9%       (3.0%)       11.4% 
 

With the exceptions of the Identity - Americas group of CGUs, the Directors do not believe that any reasonably possible change in the value of the key assumptions noted above would cause a CGU carrying amount to exceed its recoverable amount.

14. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES

 
 
                                                                    (1) 
 
 
                                                            Restated(1) 
                                             Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                          30 September     30 September     31 March 
                                                  2023             2022         2023 
                                               GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 Current 
 Trade receivables                              49,439           50,336       52,892 
 Allowance for unrecoverable amounts           (2,305)          (3,029)      (2,394) 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 Net trade receivables                          47,134           47,307       50,498 
 Prepayments                                     7,408            8,027       10,818 
 Accrued income                                  6,156            4,762        3,997 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
                                                60,698           60,096       65,313 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 Non-current 
 Prepayments                                       602              864          701 
 Accrued income                                  5,388              767        3,604 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
                                                 5,990            1,631        4,305 
                                       ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 

(1) The period to 30 September 2022 has been restated for a reclassification of prepayments and accrued income balances between current and non-current assets. Prepayments of GBP864,000 and accrued income of GBP767,000 which were incorrectly classified as current at 30 September 2022 have been reclassified as non-current prepayments and accrued income of the same value.

15. TRADE AND OTHER PAYABLES

 
 
 
                                         Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                      30 September     30 September     31 March 
                                              2023             2022         2023 
                                           GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Trade payables                             10,794           10,116       11,427 
 Other taxes and social security 
  costs                                      3,268            3,206        3,996 
 Accruals                                   21,629           24,290       21,889 
                                            35,691           37,612       37,312 
                                   ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 

16. LOANS AND BORROWINGS

Bank Loans

During the current period the Group drew down an additional GBP10,000,000 and made repayments of $10,000,000 (GBP7,960,000) and GBP7,000,000. The outstanding balance on the loan facility at 30 September 2023 was GBP123,031,000 representing GBP10,000,000 in GBP and $139,000,000 in USD.

The debt bears an interest rate of Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) for British Pound Sterling drawdowns or Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) for US Dollar drawdowns plus a margin of between 1.6% and 2.4% depending on the Group's current leverage position.

The loan is secured by a fixed and floating charge over the assets of the Group.

 
 
 
                                                 Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                              30 September     30 September     31 March 
                                                      2023             2022         2023 
                                                   GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Opening bank loan                                 126,411          128,226      128,226 
 New borrowings                                     10,000           10,000       12,000 
 Loan fees paid for extension                            -                -        (357) 
 Repayment of borrowings                          (14,960)         (13,273)     (22,394) 
 Amortisation of loan fees                             150              170          326 
 Foreign currency translation adjustment             1,430           22,279        8,610 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 Closing bank loan                                 123,031          147,402      126,411 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 
 Analysed as: 
 Amounts falling due within 12 months                    -                -            - 
 Amounts falling due after one year                123,031          147,402      126,411 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
                                                   123,031          147,402      126,411 
                                           ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 
 
 
 
                               Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                            30 September     30 September     31 March 
                                    2023             2022         2023 
                                 GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 Analysed as: 
 Bank loans                      123,940          148,259      127,470 
 Unamortised loan fees             (909)            (857)      (1,059) 
                                 123,031          147,402      126,411 
                         ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 
 

17. CONTINGENT CONSIDERATION

 
 
 
                                                   Unaudited        Unaudited      Audited 
                                                30 September     30 September     31 March 
                                                        2023             2022         2023 
                                                     GBP'000          GBP'000      GBP'000 
 
 Opening                                               1,237            7,776        7,776 
 Remeasurement of contingent consideration 
  charged to profit or loss                               20                -          806 
 Unwinding of discount                                     -              108          165 
 Release of contingent consideration                       -                -      (2,753) 
 Foreign exchange - unrealised                          (57)              527          234 
 Settlement of consideration                         (1,200)                -      (4,991) 
 Closing                                                   -            8,411        1,237 
                                             ---------------  ---------------  ----------- 
 
 
 
 
 
 Analysed as: 
 Amounts falling due within 12 months      -   6,521   1,237 
 Amounts falling due after one year       -    1,890       - 
                                        ---   ------  ------ 
    -                                          8,411   1,237 
 ----                                         ------  ------ 
 

The opening balance at 1 April 2022 included GBP3,842,000 related to the pre-acquisition tax assets within IDology Inc. A value equivalent to the cash benefit GBG received for these assets was payable to the sellers once the cash benefit had been received by GBG. In December 2022, IDology received the cash refund which was subsequently paid to the sellers. There are no further payments due in respect of the IDology acquisition.

The remaining contingent consideration was in respect of the acquisition of Cloudcheck during the year ended 31 March 2022. In July 2023, a payment was made based on performance in the first of two earn-out periods. Based on current forecasts there are no further payments due in respect of the Cloudcheck acquisition.

18. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENT

The objectives, policies and strategies pursued by the Group in relation to financial instruments are described within the 2023 Annual Report.

All financial assets and liabilities have a carrying value that approximates to fair value. For trade and other receivables, allowances are made within the book value for credit risk. The Group does not have any derivative financial instruments.

Financial instruments that are recognised at fair value subsequent to initial recognition are classified using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of inputs used in making measurements of fair value .

The fair value hierarchy has the following levels:

   --      Level 1 - Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; 

-- Level 2 - Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly (i.e. as prices) or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices); and

-- Level 3 - Inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data (unobservable inputs).

For financial instruments that are recognised at the fair value on a recurring basis, the Group determines whether transfers have occurred between levels in the hierarchy by re-assessing categorisation (based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement as a whole) at the end of each reporting period. At 30 September 2023, the Group had a non-listed equity investment and contingent consideration which were measured at Level 3 fair value subsequent to initial recognition.

The fair value of the non-listed equity investment was GBP1,389,000 (30 September 2022: GBP2,989,000) with the fair value loss of GBP1,600,000) (30 September 2022: gain of GBP700,000) being recognised within other comprehensive income. Fair value of non-listed equity investments is determined using the market-based approach. Factors considered include movement in exchange rates, similar share transactions and revenue performance as well as valuation multiples for similar non-listed equity investments.

The fair value of the contingent consideration was GBPnil (30 September 2022: GBP3,752,000) due to the fact that it was settled in full during the period. Any gain or loss prior to settlement has been recognised in the consolidated income statement within operating expenses.

Refer to note 17 for a breakdown of the movement.

19. SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS

The Group operates Executive Share Option Schemes under which Executive Directors, managers and staff of the Group are granted options over shares.

During the six months ended 30 September 2023, the following share options were granted to Executive Directors and team members.

 
 
 
   Scheme                   Date               No. of     Exercise     Fair value 
                                              options        price 
 Performance Share 
  Plan                    1 April 2023         40,000         2.5p      182p-282p 
 Performance Share 
  Plan                    26 June 2023      1,032,072         2.5p      113p-222p 
 Restricted Share Plan 
  (3 year)                1 April 2023         40,000         2.5p           282p 
 Restricted Share Plan 
  (3 year)                26 June 2023      1,347,094         2.5p           222p 
 Restricted Share Plan 
  (2 year)                26 June 2023        202,000         2.5p           225p 
 SAYE (3 Year)            25 August 2023      826,629    204p-228p        68p-76p 
 SAYE (5 Year)            25 August 2023      173,083    204p-228p        81p-86p 
 

The credit recognised from equity-settled share-based payments in respect of employee services received during the period was GBP138,000 (2022: GBP2,727,000 charge). The movement in the share-based payment charge is due to a change in the assumption of LTIP awards expected to vest based on the lower EPS and TSR performance.

20. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

During the period, the Group has not entered into transactions, in the ordinary course of business, with other related parties (2022: GBPnil).

Compensation of key management personnel (including directors)

 
 
                                             Unaudited       Unaudited 
                                              6 months        6 months     Audited 
                                                    to              to     Year to 
                                          30 September    30 September    31 March 
                                                  2023            2022        2023 
                                               GBP'000         GBP'000     GBP'000 
 
 Short-term employee benefits                    1,105           1,209       1,828 
 Fair value of share options awarded             1,024           2,618       1,555 
                                       ---------------  --------------  ---------- 
                                                 2,129           3,827       3,383 
                                       ---------------  --------------  ---------- 
 

21. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

In October 2023, the Group exercised the second of the one-year extension options on the existing revolving credit facility so that the Group has access to a GBP175 million facility until July 2026 and GBP140 million facility until July 2027. A further arrangement fee of GBP286,000 was payable for this extension.

Post period-end, further loan repayments of GBP5.5 million (GBP3 million and $3 million) have been made.

22. ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Management assess the performance of the Group using a variety of alternative performance measures. In the discussion of the Group's reported operating results, alternative performance measures are presented to provide readers with additional financial information that is regularly reviewed by management. However, this additional information presented is not uniformly defined by all companies including those in the Group's industry. Accordingly, it may not be comparable with similarly titled measures and disclosures by other companies. Additionally, certain information presented is derived from amounts calculated in accordance with IFRS but is not itself an expressly permitted GAAP measure. Such measures are not defined under IFRS and are therefore termed 'non-GAAP' measures. These non-GAAP measures are not considered to be a substitute for or superior to IFRS measures and should not be viewed in isolation or as an alternative to the equivalent GAAP measure.

The Group's income statement and segmental analysis separately identify trading results before certain items. The directors believe that presentation of the Group's results in this way is relevant to an understanding of the Group's financial performance, as such items are identified by virtue of their size, nature or incidence. This presentation is consistent with the way that financial performance is measured by management and reported to the Board and assists in providing a meaningful analysis of the trading results of the Group. In determining whether an event or transaction is presented separately, management considers quantitative as well as qualitative factors such as the frequency or predictability of occurrence. Examples of charges or credits meeting the above definition, and which have been presented separately in the current and/or prior years include amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payments charges, acquisition related costs and business restructuring programmes. In the event that other items meet the criteria, which are applied consistently from year to year, they are also presented separately.

The following are the key non-GAAP measures used by the Group:

Organic Growth

Organic growth is defined by the Group as year-on-year continuing revenue growth, excluding acquisitions which are included only after the first anniversary following their purchase and disposed businesses. Organic growth enables measurement of performance on a comparable year-on-year basis without the effects and merger and acquisition activity.

Constant Currency

Constant currency means that non-Pound Sterling revenue in the comparative period is translated at the same exchange rate applied to the current year non-Pound Sterling revenue. This therefore eliminates the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on underlying performance and enables measurement of performance on a comparable year-on-year basis without the impact of foreign exchange movements.

 
                              Unaudited                                  Unaudited                                  Growth 
                           30 September 2023                          30 September 2022 
               Location   Identity    Fraud     Total     Location   Identity    Fraud     Total     Location   Identity   Fraud   Total 
                GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000    GBP'000    GBP'000    GBP'000   GBP'000    GBP'000       %          %        %        % 
 
 Revenue         36,585     76,584    19,191    132,360     34,360     81,202    18,254    133,816       6.5%     (5.6%)    5.1%   (1.1%) 
 Constant 
  currency 
  adjustment          -          -         -          -      (525)    (2,411)     (884)    (3,820)       1.6%       2.8%    5.4%     2.8% 
              ---------  ---------  --------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ------  ------- 
 Revenue 
  at 
  constant 
  currency       36,585     76,584    19,191    132,360     33,835     78,791    17,370    129,996       8.1%     (2.8%)   10.5%     1.8% 
 

Normalised items

These are recurring items which management considers could affect the underlying results of the Group.

These include:

   --      amortisation of acquired intangibles; and 
   --      share-based payment charges 

Normalised items are excluded from statutory measures to determine adjusted results.

Adjusted Operating Profit

Adjusted operating profit means operating profit before exceptional items and normalised items. Adjusted results allow for the comparison of results year-on-year without the potential impact of significant one-off items or items which do not relate to the underlying performance of the Group. Adjusted operating profit is a measure of the underlying profitability of the Group.

 
 
                                              Unaudited       Unaudited 
                                           30 September    30 September 
                                                   2023            2022 
                                                GBP'000         GBP'000 
 
 Operating (loss)/profit                       (52,636)           2,529 
 Amortisation of acquired intangibles            20,117          21,296 
 Share-based payment (credit)/charge              (138)           2,727 
 Exceptional items                               56,560           1,513 
 Adjusted Operating Profit                       23,903          28,065 
 

Adjusted Operating Profit Margin

Adjusted Operating Profit as a percentage of revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA means Adjusted Operating Profit before depreciation and amortisation of non-acquired intangibles. Adjusted EBITDA is a measure of the underlying cash generation and the profit measure used in our covenant compliance calculations under the RCF agreement.

 
 
                                                  Unaudited       Unaudited 
                                               30 September    30 September 
                                                       2023            2022 
                                                    GBP'000         GBP'000 
 
 Adjusted Operating Profit                           23,903          28,065 
 Depreciation of property, plant 
  and equipment                                         681             805 
 Depreciation of right-of-use assets                    601             788 
 Amortisation of non-acquired intangibles                14              51 
 Adjusted EBITDA                                     25,199          29,709 
 

Adjusted Tax

Adjusted Tax means income tax charge before the tax impact of amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payment charges and exceptional items. This provides an indication of the ongoing tax rate across the Group.

Adjusted Effective Tax Rate

The Adjusted Effective Tax Rate means Adjusted Tax divided by Adjusted Earnings.

 
 
                          Unaudited 30 September                       Unaudited 30 September 
                                   2023                                         2022 
                       Profit                                  Profit 
                       before       Income  Effective          before       Income   Effective 
                          tax   tax charge   tax rate             tax   tax charge    tax rate 
                      GBP'000      GBP'000          %         GBP'000      GBP'000           % 
 
Reported Effective 
 Tax Rate            (57,282)      (2,132)       3.7%            (24)          725  (3,020.8%) 
 
Add back: 
Amortisation 
 of acquired 
 intangibles           20,117        7,775    (18.9%)          21,296        5,254    3,048.9% 
Equity-settled 
 share-based 
 payments               (138)        (245)       0.7%           2,727          559      (0.9%) 
Exceptional 
 items                 56,560          605      45.7%           1,513          189      (0.8%) 
 
Adjusted Effective 
 Tax Rate              19,257        6,003      31.2%          25,512        6,727       26.4% 
 
 

Adjusted Earnings Per Share ('Adjusted EPS')

Adjusted EPS represents adjusted earnings divided by a weighted average number of shares in issue and is disclosed to indicate the underlying profitability of the Group. Adjusted EPS is a measure of underlying earnings per share for the Group. Adjusted earnings represents Adjusted Operating Profit less net finance costs and income tax charges. Refer to note 10 for calculation.

Net Cash/Debt

This is calculated as cash and cash equivalent balances less outstanding external loans. Unamortised loan arrangement fees are netted against the loan balance in the financial statements but are excluded from the calculation of net cash/debt. Lease liabilities following the implementation of IFRS 16 are also excluded from the calculation of net cash/debt since they are not considered to be indicative of how the Group finances the business. This is a measure of the strength of the Group's balance sheet.

 
                                           Unaudited     Audited 
                                        30 September    31 March 
                                                2023        2023 
                                             GBP'000     GBP'000 
 
 Cash and cash equivalents                    19,189      21,552 
                                      --------------  ---------- 
 
 Loans on balance sheet                      123,031     126,411 
 Unamortised loan arrangement fees               909       1,059 
                                      --------------  ---------- 
 External Loans                              123,940     127,470 
 
 Net Debt                                  (104,751)   (105,918) 
 

Debt Leverage

This is calculated as the ratio of net (debt)/cash to adjusted EBITDA. This demonstrates the Group's liquidity and its ability to pay off its incurred debt.

 
 
                                          Unaudited     Audited 
                                       30 September    31 March 
                                               2023        2023 
                                            GBP'000     GBP'000 
 
 Net Debt                                 (104,751)   (105,918) 
 
 Rolling 12 month Adjusted EBITDA            58,637      63,147 
                                     --------------  ---------- 
 
 Debt Leverage                                 1.79        1.68 
 

Cash Conversion YTD %

This is calculated as cash generated from operations in the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement, adjusted to exclude cash payments in the year for exceptional items, as a percentage of Adjusted EBITDA. This measures how efficiently the Group's operating profit is converted into cash.

 
                                                            Unaudited       Unaudited 
                                                         30 September    30 September 
                                                                 2023            2022 
                                                              GBP'000         GBP'000 
 
 Cash generated from operations before tax payments 
  (from Consolidated Cash Flow Statement)                      22,942          15,338 
 Total exceptional items                                       56,560           1,513 
 Accrued cash exceptional items 
  at the start of the period paid 
  in the current period                                         1,251           1,372 
 Accrued cash exceptional items 
  at the end of the period                                      (333)           (411) 
 Non-cash exceptional items                                  (54,707)           (720) 
 
 Cash generated from operations before tax payments 
  and exceptional items paid                                   25,713          17,092 
 
 Adjusted EBITDA                                               25,199          29,709 
 
 Cash Conversion %                                             102.0%           57.5% 
 

Rolling 12 Month Cash Conversion %

This is cash conversion on a rolling 12-month basis and measures how efficiently the Group's operating profit is converted into cash.

 
                                                            Unaudited       Unaudited 
                                                         30 September    30 September 
                                                                 2023            2022 
                                                              GBP'000         GBP'000 
 
 Cash generated from operations before tax payments            46,174          39,123 
 Total exceptional items                                      182,222           5,549 
 Accrued cash exceptional items 
  at the start of the period paid 
  in the current period                                           411             273 
 Accrued cash exceptional items 
  at the end of the period                                      (333)           (411) 
 Non-cash exceptional items                                 (177,349)         (1,057) 
 
 Cash generated from operations before tax payments 
  and exceptional items paid                                   51,125          43,477 
 
 Adjusted EBITDA                                               58,637          62,484 
 
 Rolling Cash Conversion %                                      87.2%           69.6% 
 

Independent review report to GB Group plc

Report on the condensed consolidated interim financial statements

Our conclusion

We have reviewed GB Group plc's condensed consolidated interim financial statements (the "interim financial statements") in the half year results of GB Group plc for the 6 month period ended 30 September 2023 (the "period").

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the interim financial statements are not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with UK adopted International Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting' and the AIM Rules for Companies.

The interim financial statements comprise:

   --    the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as at 30 September 2023; 

-- the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss and Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the period then ended;

   --    the Condensed Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the period then ended; 
   --    the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity for the period then ended; and 
   --    the explanatory notes to the interim financial statements. 

The interim financial statements included in the Half year results of GB Group plc have been prepared in accordance with UK adopted International Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting' and the AIM Rules for Companies.

Basis for conclusion

We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity' issued by the Financial Reporting Council for use in the United Kingdom ("ISRE (UK) 2410"). A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures.

A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) and, consequently, does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

We have read the other information contained in the Half year results and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the interim financial statements.

Conclusions relating to going concern

Based on our review procedures, which are less extensive than those performed in an audit as described in the Basis for conclusion section of this report, nothing has come to our attention to suggest that the directors have inappropriately adopted the going concern basis of accounting or that the directors have identified material uncertainties relating to going concern that are not appropriately disclosed. This conclusion is based on the review procedures performed in accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410. However, future events or conditions may cause the group to cease to continue as a going concern.

Responsibilities for the interim financial statements and the review

Our responsibilities and those of the directors

The Half year results, including the interim financial statements, is the responsibility of, and has been approved by the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the Half year results in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies which require that the financial information must be presented and prepared in a form consistent with that which will be adopted in the company's annual financial statements. In preparing the Half year results, including the interim financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the group's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the group or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on the interim financial statements in the Half year results based on our review. Our conclusion, including our Conclusions relating to going concern, is based on procedures that are less extensive than audit procedures, as described in the Basis for conclusion paragraph of this report. This report, including the conclusion, has been prepared for and only for the company for the purpose of complying with the AIM Rules for Companies and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving this conclusion, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Chartered Accountants

Manchester

27 November 2023

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