Personal Group Holdings PLC Trading Update (6521Z)

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RNS Number : 6521Z

Personal Group Holdings PLC

14 January 2020

 
 Press Release   14 January 2020 
 

Personal Group Holdings plc

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

Trading Update

Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH), a leading provider of employee services in the UK, is pleased to provide the following trading update following its financial year ended 31 December 2019 ("FY 2019").

The Company has continued to make good progress on delivering the strategy following the appointment of Deborah Frost as Chief Executive in March 2019. Overall trading for FY 2019 was in-line with market expectations.

The Insurance segment retained its strong profitability during 2019 despite the volume of new policies written during the year being slightly hindered by a slowdown of new client business wins. The Company is now starting to see positive signs from its investment in sales and marketing to address this.

During FY 2019, the PG Let's Connect segment improved its year-on-year performance. The company expects this growth to continue following a positive reaction to the new proposition created for the NHS.

The Company's SaaS business delivered a strong increase in revenue, driven by increased user spend on Hapi (Personal Group's own platform) and the fact that the provision of products such as reloadable cards, e-vouchers and cinema tickets are now serviced largely in-house. An increase in paid-for Hapi subscriptions and the addition of consultancy income following the acquisition of Innecto have also helped to drive this growth.

The relationship with Sage continues to progress following the launch of Sage Employee Benefits on 2 September 2019 and a new extensive marketing campaign is planned by Sage for Q1 2020.

Personal Group remains well placed to benefit from the continued growth and development of the employee services market and the associated increasing pressure on businesses to improve productivity and attract and retain staff in a tightening labour market.

Deborah Frost, Chief Executive of Personal Group, commented:

"I'm delighted to report that the Company traded in-line with expectations in 2019. We are starting to see the benefits of the investment that the Company has made in sales and marketing and developing our strategy. We enter 2020 in a good position across all three business segments."

- ENDS -

For more information please contact:

 
 Personal Group Holdings Plc 
 Deborah Frost- Chief Executive 
  Mike Dugdale - Chief Financial 
  Officer                           [phone] 
 
 
 Cenkos Securities Plc 
 Max Hartley / Callum Davidson 
  (Nomad)                         [phone] 
 Russell Kerr (Sales) 
 

Media enquiries:

 
 Hudson Sandler 
 Nick Lyon / Lucy Wollam                [phone] 
 [e-mail] 
 

Notes to Editors

Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH) is a technology enabled employee services business, working with employers to drive productivity though better employee engagement and a more motivated workforce. With over 35 years' experience, the Company provides employee benefits and services to a large number of employees across the UK.

Personal Group's offer comprises in-house services, including employee insurance products (hospital, convalescence plans and death benefit), the provision of home technology via salary sacrifice (iPads, computers, laptops, smart phones and smart TVs), the provision of e-payslips, and pay and reward consulting via Innecto, the leading independent UK consultancy acquired in 2019. Third party services include retail discounts, employee assistance programmes, wellbeing programmes and salary sacrifice cars and bikes.

The product offer is provided via the Company's proprietary technology platform, Hapi. The platform is intuitive, designed primarily for app deployment and also accessible via web and tablet, driving better engagement, communication and value recognition. Hapi is flexible and can quickly integrate additional services, such as existing employee services and partner platforms. Hapi is a digital SaaS product.

Through technology and select acquisitions, the Company has grown its addressable market to the majority of the working population in the UK; including 15.6m SME employees targeted via its partnership with Sage, the UK's largest software company.

Personal Group's innovative approach to using technology to deliver its programmes, in combination with its face-to-face method of communicating with employees, delivers a compelling offer to blue-chip clients across the UK as a way of attracting, retaining and motivating employees. The acquisition of Innecto in February 2019 allows Personal Group to engage with clients earlier in their thinking around Pay and Reward, and to interact with a new base of blue-chip and fast growth clients typically at HR Director and CEO level.

Personal Group has a strong client base across a diverse range of sectors. Clients include: Arsenal F.C., Barchester Healthcare Ltd, DHL Supply Chain Limited, The Go-Ahead Group plc, Samworth Brothers Ltd, Independent Television News, Stagecoach Group plc and Wincanton plc.

For further information, please see www.personalgroup.com

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January 14, 2020 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)