REG - MJ Hudson Group PLC - Trading Update

MJ HudsonAnnouncement

31/01/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 0604A  MJ Hudson Group PLC  31 January 2022

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the
Market Abuse Regulation.

 

 31 January 2022

MJ Hudson Group plc

(the "Company", "Group" or "MJ Hudson")

Trading Update

Underlying revenue ahead of market consensus; further investment underway to
accelerate growth.

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH), the end-to-end solutions provider to the asset management
industry, is pleased to announce the following update on trading for the six
months to 31 December 2021.

Underlying revenue 1  ahead of expectations

In the announcement of its full year results on 25 November 2021, MJ Hudson
reported that trading in the first quarter of FY2022 had been strong,
continuing momentum from the six months prior, and that it expected strong
trading to continue. Indeed, the Group has continued to perform well, winning
multiple new clients, many of which are accessing multiple services. In
addition, MJ Hudson is successfully executing its strategy to leverage the
breadth of its services across the life cycle of its clients' funds and
investments and to grow cross-selling revenues by offering existing clients
new services and products from its multi-solutions platform.

As a result of this strong performance, underlying revenue for the full year
ending 30 June 2022 is now expected to be ahead of market expectations. The
Group is continuing to see positive momentum into the second half of its
financial year.

Acquisitions and established services both performing well and winning new
clients

Recent acquisitions (Saffery Champness Fund Services Limited, Clarus Risk, and
Bridge Group) have integrated well and are already cross-referring clients.
Both acquisitions and established business units of the Company have added new
clients, and introduced new and extended services to existing clients,
contributing to this growth. This includes:

1.  The ESG and marketing solutions teams jointly won several mandates to
provide technical and marketing services to a range of private markets fund
managers

2.  The Luxembourg fund services team won a mandate from a $600bn global
fund manager, including ESG services

3.  The law firm was instructed on a series of investments made by a FTSE
100 asset manager

4.  The investment consulting team won a multi-year, multi-million-pound
private markets mandate from a £35bn local government pension scheme pool

5.  MJ Hudson Ireland has secured major clients, including a £20bn+
multi-strategy asset management house, pushing assets under
management ("AUM") above €50bn. The team in Ireland is generating record
revenue levels and is an exciting area of growth, moving into the second half
of the year

 

Outlook

MJ Hudson sees significant opportunity for further growth and remains
confident in the future performance of the Company. In addition to the
supportive environment for organic growth, the Company continues to monitor
for acquisition opportunities that can add scale and skills to existing
service lines and provide new, complementary services for its clients. The
Company is currently assessing several live M&A opportunities.

The Group's principal client industry of private markets is showing continued
growth in AUM, as investors seek the higher returns that private markets can
deliver. This leads to increased client need for regulatory and operational
support, and for the tools to monitor and report on risk, performance and ESG,
all of which MJ Hudson offers.

Preparing for further growth

The Company remains disciplined in its approach to operational and cost
management, but continues to invest into growth, with this investment focussed
on several key areas, each designed to accelerate the growth of the business:

1.   Investing significantly in IT infrastructure and software development

2.    Identifying and driving demand through direct marketing and lead
generation, and launching a refreshed brand and new website, integrated into
market leading sales and marketing systems (Salesforce, Pardot)

3.  Building capacity in a highly responsive, centralised business
development function, with a mandate to capitalise on the significant
cross-and upselling opportunities afforded by the Company's broad range of
complementary services

4.  Extending the reach of MJ Hudson's advisory, outsourcing and analytical
services by developing digital tools, such as the award-winning ESG Advantage
platform (launched in October 2021) and the Fides IQ joint venture (launched
in November 2021)

5. Investing in people and systems to increase the capacity of the busiest
teams (including ESG) and supporting this billing and staff growth with the
implementation of Workday, streamlining HR and invoicing

 

Matthew Hudson, CEO of the Group said:

"I am delighted at the continued progress made by the Company in the period.
Market activity is ramping up and we are perfectly placed to capitalise: as
more investment flows into private markets, regulation grows and clients
increase their focus on analytics and ESG, we expect demand for our services
to increase further.

 

"To capture these opportunities, we are making significant investment into our
infrastructure and teams. This will create greater operational leverage and
drive significant and sustainable revenue growth, As the breadth and quality
of our expertise and tools further establish the power of our brand, this
will, in turn, lead to a much bigger, more profitable firm, in the mid-term.

 

"We are growing our share of a growing client market, at pace, and will keep
our foot down hard on the accelerator. We will continue to update the market
on our progress, and we look forward to the future with confidence."

 

 

For further information contact:

 

 MJ Hudson Group plc                   +44 20 3463 3200

 Matthew Hudson, CEO

 Matthew Craig-Greene, CMO

 Katherine Hazelden, PR Director

 Cenkos Securities (Nomad and Broker)  +44 20 7397 8900

 Giles Balleny

 Stephen Keys

 Callum Davidson

 Buchanan (PR Adviser)                 +44 20 7466 5000

 Stephanie Whitmore

 Kim Looringh-van Beeck

About MJ Hudson

 

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH) is the one-stop-shop solutions provider to the US$100
trillion+ asset management industry, specialising in its fastest growing
segment, private markets (including private equity and venture capital).

The Company offers investors access to the growth in private markets as a
tech-enabled 'picks and shovels' play.

Founded in 2010, by CEO Matthew Hudson (a private markets lawyer and former
fund manager), MJ Hudson was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange in 2019. The Group has grown to more than 300 professionals, serving
more than 1,000 clients, across the globe, including some of the industry's
largest players and 18 of the FTSE 100.

Several factors have contributed to the Group's success, to date, and support
strong growth expectations, for the future:

 

1.            Private markets are growing fast, and MJ Hudson
provides the picks and shovels

 

2.            As private markets grow, so do scrutiny and
regulation, increasing the need for the Group's specialist advice and
services, particularly in areas like ESG, where it has award-winning solutions

 

3.            As it evolves, the sector is increasingly embracing
technology, data, and analytics, where MJ Hudson has market-leading and
award-winning tools and in which it continues to invest

 

4.            The Group's multi-service approach creates multiple
client touchpoints, building stronger, longer-term relationships, and making
it easier to sell in additional MJ Hudson services

 

5.            Performing these services generates vast amounts of
data, which MJ Hudson aggregates and analyses, in order to further support its
clients, by developing next-generation tools and fine-tuning existing
services.

 

For more information, please visit our website: mjhudson.com/investors

 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/mj-hudson/
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/mj-hudson/)

Twitter: twitter.com/MJHudsonCorp (https://twitter.com/MJHudsonCorp)

 

 1  Underlying Revenue is statutory revenue less direct cost of sales. 

 

 

 

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