£PGN
The Personal Group PLC has a current market cap of £65m (at a 205p share price) and the 12-month share price range is 405p to 200p. The interims to end June were published on the 22 September. A financial year end trading update is schedules for January. The PLC has been listed on AIM since 2000 and has the LSE dealing code PGH.
Cenkos are the brokers. There is currently no financial guidance for the FY2020. However the CEO recently bought £10,000 worth of shares on the 16/11, adding to her sizeable holding. On the 25/11 a RNS was published highlighting other insider purchases, one being the interim CFO.
Deborah Frost became the CEO in February 2019 after selling Innecto People Consulting to Personal Group for £3m (and using the funds to buy £1m of PGH stock). Deborah founded Innecto in 2002 and shared £500k with the staff upon the sale. The prior CEO had notified the board of his intention to step down by September 2019 and with Deborah being an NED of PGH (since 2015) and the PLC buying her company and knowing her skill set, invited Deborah to become the new CEO. There have also been several director changes in the near past with the CFO taking planned retirement and replaced by the financial controller as an interim CFO. An executive director is moving to become an NED (so not independent) and in addition an independent NED is being sort, A new ‘growth driven’ Chairman is to be announced shortly, replacing the existing one at the next AGM having been appointed in 2016 but joined the PLC in 2013. The Deputy Chairman is also stepping down after 20 years of service but is to remain on the insurance board.
The 1H result proved YoY growth and exceeded the earlier re-drawn CV-19 management results expectations. The start of the year was strong. 1H revenue was £30.4m, up 1.3% benefiting from Hapi SaaS recurring revenues being up £1.4m and reaching £10.2m. Let’s connect revenues was £5.1m and down from £5.8m because of weaker new sales due to the lockdown period and product launch delays. Group adjusted EBITDA was up 10% at £5m. PBT was up 16% to £4.5m helped by lower selling costs due to COVID-19. Basic EPS was down 3.5% to 11p. Net cash and deposits were £19m, no debt. The 1H dividend was 7.4p. The insurance…
