GBG : Half Yearly Report

GB GROUP PLC
(“GBG” or the “Group”)

Half Yearly Report

GB Group plc (AIM: GBG), the global identity data intelligence specialist, announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 September 2015.

Financial Highlights

• Strong trading performance for the six months to 30 September:
  o   Revenue up 39% to £32.4 million (2014: £23.2 million)
  o   Adjusted operating profits† increased by 21% to £4.5 million (2014: £3.7 million)
  o   Adjusted basic earnings per share‡ of 3.4p (2014: 3.3p)
  o   18% increase in overall organic revenue growth (2014: 13%)
  o   Both segments of the Group, Identity Proofing and Identity Solutions, contributing to revenue growth
  o   32% increase in profit after tax to £2.3 million (2014: £1.7 million)

• The Group has had a good start to the year and anticipates delivering full year results in line with market expectations.

• Highly cash generative with net cash from operating activities increasing by 61% to £5.7 million (2014: £3.5 million).

• Net cash balances†† of £1.2 million (2014: £8.6 million) after payments for dividends, the acquisition of Loqate and an earn-out relating to DecTech.

Operational Highlights

• Our acquisition strategy, to create truly international services and to support GBG’s customers globally, continued with the successful acquisition of Loqate Inc. completed in April 2015. DecTech, based in Melbourne and acquired in April 2014, continues to perform strongly.

• Excellent progress in growing revenues from international clients who now account for 26% of GBG’s business with a number of major financial services sector contract wins in the Asia Pacific region secured in the first half.

• GBG products and services have the ability to conduct KYC (Know Your Customer) checks for 40 countries (2014: 31).

• New banking facility arrangements agreed with Barclays and Lloyds to support future acquisition and growth activities.

Richard Law, CEO, commented,
'The Group continues to perform well and this reflects our focus on delivering the Group’s Vision, Objectives and Strategies (VOS). As we build upon our market-leading position and the strong differentiation we have against our competitors, I expect this progressive trend of profitable growth to continue.”

For further details of the full announcement please click here.

Notes:

†Adjusted operating profit means profits before amortisation of acquired intangibles, share-based payments, exceptional items, share of associate investment result, interest and tax.

†† Net cash means cash and short-term deposits less borrowings.

‡ Adjusted 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. In prior periods the Group reported adjusted earnings per share on a pre-tax basis and the comparative numbers have been restated to take in account the change to a post-tax basis.

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About GBG
GBG is a global specialist in Identity Data Intelligence. We help organisations make decisions about the customers they serve and the people they employ.

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 18 offices across the world, GBG provides solutions to many of the world’s biggest organisations, from established brands like Nike and Harrods to disruptive newcomers such as Taskrabbit and Stripe.

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

About GBG’s solutions

We provide a number of business solutions aimed at informing decisions about customers or employees in key areas:

Employing people – we provide thorough background checks through the online verification of individuals and key documents such as a driver’s licence, enabling organisations to safeguard, recruit and engage with confidence.

Registering identities – GBG solutions facilitate the registration of identity data, such as name and address, contact information and social network IDs, quickly and with minimum impact on the customer experience.

Verifying identities – we provide more innovative ways of confirming identity than simply relying on credit data. Our solutions check the identities of more than 4 billion people worldwide and also verify citizens of the world’s largest economies to the rigorous standards set by the world’s financial regulators.

Building relationships – we work collaboratively with clients to make sure they use the data their customers share with them to create personalised customer journeys for each individual, responding to every interaction in real time.

Fighting fraud – our fraud prevention solutions not only check new customer details in real time as they register but monitor and detect application and transaction fraud on an ongoing basis.

Locating people – voted ‘Most Innovative Online Product’ at the 2015 UK Retail Fraud Awards, GBG technology confirms and locates the people our clients need to connect with. It saves valuable time and resource and ensures that good customers don’t incur the cost of inefficient processes.

GBG is listed on the London Stock Exchange (GBG). For more information visit www.gbgplc.com