Begbies Traynor Group PLC Third Quarter Trading Update (8017R)

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RNS Number : 8017R

Begbies Traynor Group PLC

05 March 2019

5 March 2019

Begbies Traynor Group plc

Third Quarter Trading Update

Begbies Traynor Group plc (the "Group"), the business recovery, financial advisory and property services consultancy, today issues a trading update for its third quarter ended 31 January 2019.

The Group has traded in line with our expectations in the period, with revenue and profit growth for the year to date. This performance is consistent with achieving our expectations for the year as a whole.

As referenced at the time of our half year results announcement in December 2018, the second half of the financial year for recovery and advisory services anticipated the completion of a number of contingent fee engagements and higher activity levels. During the third quarter we have successfully completed a number of contingent engagements and seen a continuing good flow of insolvency appointments. There remain several contingent instructions which we expect to complete in the final quarter. On 14 February 2019, we announced the acquisition of KRE (North East) Limited, a Newcastle based insolvency practice in line with our strategy to continue to develop our market-leading business recovery practice, alongside our property services consultancy.

The total number of corporate insolvencies (source: The Insolvency Service*) in calendar year 2018 increased by 10% to 16,090 (2017: 14,631). This increase followed the 2015, 2016 and 2017 calendar years which represented the lowest level of corporate appointments since 2004.

The property services business has continued to perform well in the third quarter and we were pleased to complete the acquisition of Croft Transport Planning & Design on 31 January 2019. Croft strengthens our property professional services business, through expanding the consultancy services offered to real estate developers and corporate clients.

*Source: The Insolvency Service quarterly insolvency statistics on a seasonally adjusted basis, excluding the one-off effect of 1,349 (2017: 2,686) bulk insolvencies as identified by the Insolvency Service.

Ric Traynor, Executive Chairman of Begbies Traynor Group plc, commented:

"We have had a busy few months with a good third quarter performance and the completion of recent acquisitions that further develop our core businesses. We remain confident that we are on track to achieve our expectations for the year as whole."

Enquiries please contact:

Begbies Traynor Group plc 0161 837 1700

Ric Traynor - Executive Chairman

Nick Taylor - Group Finance Director

Canaccord Genuity Limited 020 7523 4588

(Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Sunil Duggal / Chris Connors

Shore Capital 020 7408 4090

(Joint Broker)

Mark Percy / Anita Ghanekar

MHP Communications 020 3128 8100

Reg Hoare / Katie Hunt

Information on Begbies Traynor Group can be accessed via the Group's website at

www.begbies-traynorgroup.com

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March 05, 2019 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)