NAHL (LON:NAH)
Share Price 149p (-22p today) -13%
Bid/Offer 146p/152p Normal Market Size 2000
Market Cap £67.5m
Enterprise Value £76.9m
About the Company
NAHL Group plc is a UK consumer marketing business focused on the legal services market. The Group comprises three divisions:
- Personal Injury (National Accident Helpline),
- Residential Property (Fitzalan Partners and Searches UK)
- Critical Care (Bush & Company).
Let's review how each of their three divisions are doing.
1. Personal Injury (National Accident Helpline),
- National Accident Helpline brand relaunched during the year.
- The company has a Personal Injury (PI) strategy with the launch of two ABS ventures to battle against the decline in its traditional PI business.
- The regulations changes that hurt their PI business will take place no earlier than Q2 2019.
- The company also intends to establish a third ABS venture.
We anticipate a broadly unchanged landscape in terms of the number of accidents, and the number of consumers seeking redress, but expect to experience a progressive reduction in PLF appetite for these smaller value cases.
With this in mind, during 2018 we intend to establish a third ABS, incurring set up costs in 2018 and 2019. This ABS will be small claims ready, and will in due course provide digitally enabled consumer advice and support. Set up costs, including capital expenditure, are expected to amount to approximately £4.0m during the next two years and will comprise investment in people, technology and process capability.
2. Residential Property (Fitzalan Partners and Searches UK), Revenue was down 7.5% to £8.3m (2016: £9.0m), with operating profits unchanged at £1.4m. Company notes it is facing future challenges in a difficult market. The company will need to focus on cutting costs to protect margins.
3. Critical Care (Bush & Company). Revenue was up 6.6% to £11.0m (2016: £10.4m), delivering operating profits up 2.5% at £3.9m (2016: £3.8m). There is a mention of a slow down in Q4 2017 for Critical Care. This leaves a question mark for 2018 of how much growth.
Full Year Results to 31/12/17 - Financial Highlights
• Trading performance in line with expectations
• Revenue up 2.5% to £51.9m (2016: £50.6m)
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