Rise in insolvencies keeps Begbies Traynor on course
Begbies Traynor Group is on track to deliver results in line with expectations, it said in a third quarter trading update today.
The Manchester-based insolvency experts, financial advisory and property services consultancy, reported on the quarter ending January 31.
It said the group has traded in line with expectations, with revenue and profit growth for the year-to-date.
“This performance is consistent with achieving our expectations for the year as a whole,” said today’s statement.
As highlighted in its 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 the group has successfully completed a number of contingent engagements and seen a continuing good flow of insolvency appointments.
Today’s update said there remain several contingent instructions which Begbies expects to complete in the final quarter.
On February 14, the group announced the acquisition of KRE (North East) Limited, a Newcastle-based insolvency practice, in line with the firm’s strategy to continue to develop its business recovery practice, alongside its property services consultancy.
The statement also revealed that the total number of corporate insolvencies for the 2018 calendar year showed an increase, compared with previous years, according to The Insolvency Service.
During 2018 these increased by by 10% to 16,090, up from 14,631, in contrast to 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 the group was pleased to complete the acquisition of Croft Transport Planning & Design on January 31.
Croft strengthens the property professional services business, through expanding the consultancy services offered to real estate developers and corporate clients.
Executive chairman, Ric Traynor, said: “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.”
