GB : Annual results for year ended 31 March 2018

Published: Tuesday June 05, 2018

GB GROUP PLC

('GBG', the 'Group' or the 'Company')

Annual Results for the Year Ended 31 March 2018

Strong organic revenue growth driven by international expansion,a growing customer baseand great people

GB Group plc (AIM: GBG), the global identity data intelligence specialist, announces its annual results for the Year Ended 31 March 2018.

Financial highlights

Strategic and Operational Highlights

Enhancing our customer offer

• Broadening our existing global data portfolio with additional new and improved data identity for China, Australia, France and Sweden
• Expanding our capabilities with new acquisitions to provide the best products, such as Verifeyed which will improve our digital anti-tampering offer
• Creation of a new Customer Experience leadership role as part of our Executive Team

International Expansion

• International revenues increased from 31% to 34% of our total business
• Continuing to make significant progress across EMEA and APAC regions
• Now employ over 800 people across 18 countries

Growing our customer base

• Strong level of renewals building on our existing customer base
• Attracting new high-quality customers to the portfolio including LEGO, KBC Ireland and Nordstrom
• Our overall customer base now stands at over 17,000 businesses and organisations, across 79 countries

Outlook & growth opportunities

• The market for identity data intelligence solutions continues to grow as do our capabilities
• Recent acquisitions fully integrated and providing new growth opportunities
• Clear plans for organic growth and a healthy focus on opportunities for acquisitions
• The new financial year is trading in line with our expectations

Chris Clark, CEO, said:

'This has been another strong year for GBG across all of our core products and markets. We have a clear strategy for sustainable, long-term growth based on building ever-closer customer relationships while continuing our international expansion through both acquisitions and investment in our people and technology.

'GBG is becoming a truly global business with more than 34% of revenues coming from overseas markets. Today, our customers include more than 17,000 businesses and organisations, in 79 countries and we're continuing to expand and invest in our operations in APAC, North America and EMEA. We believe there are exciting opportunities across all our sectors, in all our markets and that gives us great confidence for the future.'

For further details of the full announcement please click here.

- Ends -

Notes:

¹As we highlighted in the October 2017 trading update, the organic revenue growth includes £3.5m from the sale in September 2017 of a material perpetual licence to a leading European bank. Had this particular transaction been a fully delivered, 3-year agreement, payable in annual instalments then our revenue recognition policies would have resulted in an underlying organic growth rate of 15%.

²Adjusted operating profit means profit before amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payments, exceptional items, interest and tax. This measure is not defined under IFRS but Management believe that this Alternative Performance Measure (APM) is a more appropriate metric to understand the underlying performance of the Group. See 'Alternative Performance Measures' in the Annual Report & Accounts for further details.

³Adjusted earnings per share is defined as adjusted operating profit less net finance costs and tax divided by the basic weighted average number of ordinary shares of the Company.

⁴Net cash means cash and short-term deposits less loans.

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About GBG

GBG is a global specialist in Identity Data Intelligence. We help organisations make decisions about their customers and employees.

Through our fundamental belief that the digital economy relies on everyone having access to data they can trust, GBG enables companies and governments to fight fraud and cybercrime, to improve the customer experience and help to protect the more vulnerable people in our society.

Headquartered in Chester (UK) and with people in 18 countries, GBG has some of the world's biggest organisations as its customers, from established brands like HSBC, Zurich Insurance, Lego and Lufthansa, to disruptive newcomers such as Stripe and Plus500.

Find out more about how we use identity data intelligently by visiting www.gbgplc.com and our newsroom: www.gbgplc.com/newsroomor following us on Twitter @gbgplc.