Begbies grows revenue by 12% despite ‘subdued’ M&A market
Begbies Traynor Group has increased revenue for the year by 12%, despite a subdued deals market.
In a trading update to the stock market this morning, the Manchester headquartered advisory business, best known as an insolvency practitioner, said revenue is expected to increase by c.12% to c.£136m (2023: £121.8m) and that adjusted EBITDA is expected to increase by c.9% to c.£29m (2023: £26.6m), which is ahead of market expectations.
Though yet to be audited, the business said margins have improved across both business recovery and property services but were offset by “subdued M&A transactions in corporate finance” and further investment to support ongoing growth.
Executive chairman Ric Traynor said the four acquisitions completed in the financial year have added over £9m in pro-forma revenue to the group.
The acquisitions are: Banks Long & Co, a general chartered surveyors practice, based in Lincoln; Cardiff-based insolvency team from Jones Giles & Clay, joining the group’s existing Cardiff office; Andrew Forbes, a property valuation practice based in Bristol; and SDL auctions, a national firm of property auctioneers headquartered in Nottingham.
A new £35m debt facility has been agreed with HSBC as announced in February 2024, which replaced the group’s previous facility which was due to mature in August 2025. The key terms are a £25m committed, unsecured revolving credit facility (unchanged) and a £10m “accordion” facility (increased from £5m), allowing further debt capacity to support the group’s growth strategy.
Ric Traynor, Executive Chairman of Begbies Traynor Group plc, said: “We have delivered another strong performance, with EBITDA ahead of market expectations and net debt lower than anticipated. This was driven by increased activity levels in business recovery, which maintained its market-leading position by volume, and very strong growth across our property advisory and transactional services teams.
“The group’s cash generation, combined with the significant headroom within our new debt facility, provides us with the flexibility to execute our strategy to continue to grow our scale and range of services both organically and through acquisition.
“We expect business recovery activity levels to remain strong, combined with a recovery in M&A activities and the continued growth across our property services business. We are therefore confident of continuing to build upon our long track record of growth in the current year and beyond.”
