REG - Mission Group PLC - Trading Statement

MissionAnnouncement

20/12/2023 07:45

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RNS Number : 4456X  Mission Group PLC (The)  20 December 2023

20(th) December 2023

The Mission Group plc

("MISSION" the "Company" or the "Group")

BUSINESS AND TRADING UPDATE

 

The MISSION Group plc (AIM: TMG), creator of Work That Counts(TM), comprising
a group of digital marketing and communications Agencies, wishes to provide a
business and trading update since the Group's last update on 23 October 2023
(the "Update") for the remainder of the 2023 financial year to 31 December
2023 ("FY2023").

 

Trading for FY2023 is currently expected to be in line with the Board's
revised outlook, as outlined in the Update.

 

VALUE RESTORATION PLAN

 

As outlined in the Update, in response to the impact of the more challenging
trading conditions on the business, the Group has started to implement a
"Value Restoration Plan" comprising of a series of significant cost saving
initiatives, margin improvements and selected possible business disposals, to
restore value to MISSION shareholders.

 

This plan is now well underway and a total of £5m of cost savings have been
identified. An initial £2m of annualised costs savings relating to headcount
reduction in certain of the Group's business units have been delivered at a
cost of £0.4m. A further £3m of annualised non-agency cost savings have been
targeted and are being implemented at a cost of £0.3m.

 

Progress has been made on the disposal of two non-core businesses in line with
the Group's strategy. In each case, a letter of intent has been received.
 These discussions are ongoing and either, or both, of these may complete in
the coming months, but at this stage there can be no certainty that they will
progress to a completed transaction.

 

A further update on the Group's progress against the Value Restoration Plan
will be provided with the FY2023 trading statement in January 2024.

 

FINANCIAL POSITION

 

Our long-standing lender, NatWest has agreed to waive the December covenant.
We remain in constructive dialogue with respect to covenants and maturity of
facilities and are confident that through this ongoing support from our Bank,
we will have the liquidity and headroom to deliver upon our medium-term
strategy.

 

We are actively managing our net debt position together with that of our trade
and other creditors to ensure that we have as much flexibility as possible. At
this stage, the Group's net debt at 31 December 2023 is expected to be
unchanged from that set out in the Update, being approximately £24.0m.

 

 

 

ENDS

ENQUIRIES:

 James Clifton, Chief Executive Officer

 Giles Lee, Chief Financial Officer

 The MISSION Group plc                                     Via Houston

 Simon Bridges / Andrew Potts / Harry Rees
 Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)  020 7523 8000

 Kate Hoare / Alexander Clelland / India Spencer
 HOUSTON (Financial PR and Investor Relations)             0204 529 0549

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

MISSION is a collective of digital marketing and communications Agencies
employing over 1,000 people across 29 locations and 3 continents. The Group
successfully combines its diverse expertise to produce Work That Counts
TM for Clients, whatever their ambitions. Creating real standout, sharing
real innovation and delivering real growth for some of the world's biggest
brands. www.themission.co.uk
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.themission.co.uk%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C2e2f37c792c7415afaad08d947a9c473%7Cb7e4783d67604ed5b0c156d405b9349b%7C0%7C1%7C637619616734507818%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000&sdata=5duO%2FyhgYrmP5I17h1eW4mAaM4%2BhySTEObFl5Dz5R%2Fs%3D&reserved=0)

The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on
behalf of MISSION is James Clifton.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit)
Regulations 2019. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

 

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