NAHL Group PLC Pre-Close Trading Update (8154M)
11 January 2019 - 6:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMNAH
RNS Number : 8154M
NAHL Group PLC
11 January 2019
11 January 2019
NAHL Group PLC
("NAHL" or the "Group")
Pre-Close Trading Update
NAHL (AIM: NAH), the leading UK consumer marketing and services
business focused on the UK legal services market, is today
providing a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2018.
The Group has had a disappointing end to the year. Consequently
profits and adjusted earnings per share* for Financial Year 2018
are expected to be between 5 and 10 per cent below Board
expectations.
As previously referenced, the Personal Injury (PI) division has
seen an ongoing decline in panel law firm demand as a result of the
forthcoming regulatory changes. In addition, the Residential
Property (RP) division continued to be impacted by the state of the
housing market.
In the fourth quarter, heightened competitor activity in the PI
division depressed enquiry volumes and increased consumer
acquisition cost. Based on previous year's performance, we believed
that the division's performance during December would mitigate this
trend, although this proved not to be the case. This, coupled with
a persistently difficult housing market, has resulted in a 2018
performance below expectations.
Our 2019 plans include initiatives that will address our
competitive position, namely:
-- Investment in brand recognition and further digital marketing
activity in our PI division which will enhance our competitiveness
although we recognise that the competitor landscape may continue to
be challenging.
-- In the RP division the new leadership team has implemented
several strategic initiatives designed to return the business to
growth in 2019.
The Group is well positioned to capitalise on the forthcoming
regulatory changes and the Group's PI transformation programme is
progressing well, including our ABS ventures which are trading
profitably. The Group has received notification from the SRA that
its ABS application for a wholly-owned law firm will be granted,
which is a major step forward in NAHL's transition strategy.
The Group has continued to carefully manage its balance sheet
and net debt at the end of 2018 was GBP15.5m, which was lower than
expected. The Board expects to pay a final dividend for 2018 which,
combined with the interim dividend, will maintain our policy of a
total dividend covered twice by earnings per share.
From a regulatory perspective the Civil Liabilities Bill
received royal assent on 20 December 2018 with implementation still
planned for April 2020. No material alterations were made to the
bill and the Group awaits clarification around how it will be
implemented.
The Group's Critical Care division has continued to make good
progress, trading in line with the Board's expectations.
NAHL will announce its Final Results for the year ended 31
December 2018 on 19 March 2019.
Russell Atkinson, CEO of NAHL, commented:
"Progress in Critical Care has been encouraging and, although
market conditions have challenged our Residential Property
business, we have plans in place to return to growth.
Despite a disappointing December, our Personal Injury business
continues to make strong progress in its transformation agenda and
our focus remains the creation of a market leading enquiry
generation and volume processing business."
* Underlying earnings per share adjusts for share-based
payments, amortisation of intangible assets on business
combinations and exceptional items.
For further information please call:
NAHL Group plc via FTI Consulting
Russell Atkinson (CEO) Tel: +44 (0) 20
James Saralis (CFO) 3727 1000
finnCap Ltd (NOMAD & Broker) Tel: +44 (0) 20
Julian Blunt / James Thompson (Corporate Finance) 7220 0500
Andrew Burdis (Corporate Broking)
FTI Consulting (Financial PR) Tel: +44 (0) 20
Alex Beagley 3727 1000
James Styles
Laura Saraby
Notes to Editors
NAHL Group plc (AIM: NAH) is a leader in the Consumer Legal
Services ("CLS") market. The Group provides services and products
to individuals and businesses in the CLS market through its three
divisions:
-- Personal Injury provides outsourced marketing services to law
firms through National Accident Helpline and claims processing
services to individuals through Your Law and National Law
Partners.
-- Critical Care provides a range of specialist services in the
catastrophic and serious injury market to both claimants and
defendants through Bush and Company Rehabilitation.
-- Residential Property provides marketing services to law firms
and conveyancers as well as surveys to individuals through Fitzalan
Partners. It also provides property searches through Searches
UK.
More information is available at www.nahlgroupplc.co.uk
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contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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