Savings reap rewards for Begbies

INSOLVENCY firm Begbies Traynor has said that it expects to complete a sale of its Red Flag information business before its financial year end of April 30.

The group, which has  a series of offices in Yorkshire, also said results for the first nine months of its financial year to January 31 were in line with last year, but that its full-year performance would depend on business levels in its typically busy final quarter.

Cost saving measures taken in its core insolvency and restructuring business had improved profits, even though activity levels remained “subdued”. It has reduced headcount within its insolvency arm by 4.2% since its last year end and now has 470 staff.

Trading within its Global Risk Partners has not been as good, though, and the division is expected to make a loss during the second half of the financial year. Although it argues that the longer-term prospects for the business are good, it has yet to replace “a number of large and profitable engagements” which were completed in the early part of the year.

Executive chairman Ric Traynor said: “Our core insolvency business has maintained its market-leading position and continues to benefit from cost savings, resulting in improved profits and margins.

“Having made good progress with our disposal programme, we remain highly focussed on maximising the performance of the core businesses.”