City round-up: Moneysupermarket; Tatton Asset Management; Franchise Brands

Tatton Asset Management, the AIM listed investment management and IFA support services Group, expects FY21 results to be ahead of all analysts’ forecasts.

In a trading update ahead of its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2021, the group said it has achieved strong growth in revenue, adjusted operating profits¹ and assets under management (AUM) and cash generation was also strong.

Tatton Investment Management further improved its performance in the second half of the year with net inflows of £427m, an increase of 30 per cent on the first six months of the year.

The total inflows for the year were £755m, or 11.3 per cent of opening AUM. The year ended with AUM of £9bn (2020: £6.7bn) an increase of £2.3bn or 35.2 per cent for the year.

TAM said: “This performance demonstrates the resilience of the Group’s business model in a year which has been dominated by a complex backdrop of market and economic uncertainty and volatility brought about by the global pandemic.

“The Group remains in a healthy financial position, with a strong balance sheet and £16.9m of net cash.”

Franchise Brands has hailed a record first quarter as earnings climbed 24 per cent.

In a trading update Stephen Hemsley, executive chairman, said the group performed ‘strongly’ in the first quarter of 2021 with adjusted EBITDA growing 24 per cent to a record of £2m, up from £1.6m in the previous year.

He  said: “This performance underlines the strength of our business model and is a testament to the hard work of all our people throughout the challenges of the winter lockdown.

“Turnover returned to pre-COVID 19 levels by the end of Q1, despite the hospitality sector having not yet reopened. We also benefited from efficiency savings due to new ways of working that were established during the pandemic, which have been facilitated by the ongoing digital transformation of our business.

Our ability to achieve 24 per cent growth in EBITDA underpins the organic growth element of our strategic financial targets of £100m in run-rate revenues and adjusted EBITDA of £15m by the end of 2023.

“We continue to seek opportunities to deploy our considerable balance sheet strength to complement our organic growth through earnings enhancing acquisitions.”

At 31 March 2021, the Group had cash of £12.9m and undrawn bank facilities of £7m, giving the Group approximately £20m of cash and available facilities.

Moneysupermarket Group which specialises in comparisons of energy, financial services and insurance providers, saw revenues in the first three months of 2021 drop to £85.5m, down by 20 per cent from 2020’s £107.3m.

The group has been impacted by the pandemic with revenues across insurance, money and home services.

It said earnings from TravelSupermarket remained “negligible”, while revenue within its financial division dropped by 26 per cent.

Decision Tech, owned by Moneysupermarket Group, saw continued double-digit growth during the quarter, but reported a notice of termination from a “large volume” partner that contributed £15m of revenue last year.

Peter Duffy, CEO of Moneysupermarket Group, said: “We continue to help millions of households save money on their bills through lockdown and the energy price cap rise.

“We are moving ahead with our updated strategy, enhancing how we manage our data and starting to attract customers more efficiently.

“Several channels remain impacted by Covid-19, but we are well positioned to weather this period and return shortly to profitable growth.”

 

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close