NAHL Group PLC COVID-19 Update (1202K)

TIDMNAH

RNS Number : 1202K

NAHL Group PLC

20 April 2020

20 April 2020

NAHL Group PLC

("NAHL" or the "Group")

COVID-19 Update

NAHL (AIM: NAH), the leading consumer marketing and services business focused on the UK legal services market, today provides an update in light of the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation.

Following the emergence of the COVID-19 virus in the UK in late February, the Board's focus has switched to tackling the immediate short-term challenges for the business and taking the appropriate actions to protect cash, reduce costs and ensure there is sufficient liquidity to run the business through a prolonged period of disruption. Management have modelled the financial impact of a number of potential scenarios on the business but, at this stage, given the rapidly evolving Government response, it is too early to quantify the full impact with any degree of certainty. Consequently, the Group is suspending all forward guidance until circumstances and impacts surrounding COVID-19 become clearer.

The Board's overriding priority has been the continued health, safety and wellbeing of our people and supporting our customers and business partners through these unprecedented times. To that end, the Group's business continuity plans were swiftly implemented, with our well supported systems enabling staff to work remotely with full support.

Cost savings and liquidity

Since mid-March, the Group's Critical Care business has remained resilient with only a modest level of impact to date. However, the Group's Personal Injury division has suffered a more significant reduction in enquiries and its Residential Property division has suffered in line with the UK property market which has come to a standstill. These challenges will impact the business in both the short and long-term.

In response, the Board has taken a number of measures including reducing property and lease costs, leveraging IT to support broader based home working, delaying capital expenditure and optimising the structure of the business to maximise efficiencies. Across these initiatives, management are targeting significant annualised cash savings.

Furthermore, the Group is making use of the Government Job Retention Scheme and has furloughed around a third of staff. Members of the Group's leadership team have voluntarily taken a temporary salary cut of between 10 and 20%; the Board has taken a 20% reduction in salaries or fees; and the Group has deferred its annual salary review. The Board is extremely grateful for the sacrifices made by its employees in the current crisis and greatly appreciates the positive attitude shown by all staff.

At 31 December 2019, the Group had net debt of GBP21 million with a GBP25 million Revolving Credit Facility committed until December 2021. At 31 March 2020, net debt remained at GBP21 million and we believe that the Group will be able to manage net debt within the current headroom.

Final Results and Outlook

On 23 March 2020, the Board announced a delay in issuing its Final Results for 2019 following guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority and AIM. Now that the reporting moratorium has been lifted, and having consulted with its advisers including the Group's auditors, the Group intends to publish its Final Results during the last week of April with an Annual General Meeting planned for early June 2020. Further details will be announced in due course.

Given its experience in navigating change in difficult markets, the Board remains confident in the Group's ability to emerge from this period as a sustainable business.

For further information please call:

 
NAHL Group plc                                      via finnCap 
 Russell Atkinson (CEO)                              Tel: [phone] 
 James Saralis (CFO)                                 0500 
finnCap Ltd (NOMAD & Broker)                        Tel: [phone] 
 Julian Blunt / James Thompson (Corporate Finance)   0500 
 Andrew Burdis (Corporate Broking) 
 
FTI Consulting (Financial PR)                       Tel: [phone] 
 Alex Beagley                                        1000 
 James Styles 
 Sam Macpherson 
 

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, Law Together and National Accident Law.

-- 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 and www.national-accident-helpline.co.uk .

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

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April 20, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)