REG - Pebble Group (The) - Half Year Results 2023
05/09/2023 07:00
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RNS Number : 3462L Pebble Group PLC (The) 05 September 2023
5 September 2023
THE PEBBLE GROUP PLC
("The Pebble Group" or the "Group")
UNAUDITED HALF YEAR RESULTS 2023
Solid performance with strategic progress
The Pebble Group (AIM: PEBB, OTCQX: PEBBF), a leading provider of digital
commerce, products and related services to the global promotional products
industry, announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June
2023 ("HY 23" or the "Period").
Having achieved solid year on year growth in HY 23, the Board expects that for
the year ending 31 December 2023 ("FY 23") the Group's results will be in line
with market expectations.
Financials
Statutory results HY 23 HY 22 Change FY 22
Revenue £63.3m £60.3m +5% £134.0m
Gross profit margin 42.8% 38.5% +4.3ppt 39.3%
Operating profit £3.3m £3.1m +6% £10.2m
Profit before tax £3.1m £2.8m +11% £9.7m
Basic earnings per share 1.37p 1.27p +8% 4.55p
Other financial highlights HY 23 HY 22 Change FY 22
Adjusted EBITDA(1) £7.5m £6.7m +12% £18.0m
Net cash / (debt)(2) £4.2m £(0.1)m +£4.3m £15.1m
Adjusted basic earnings per share(3) 2.08p 1.88p +11% 5.78p
Financial highlights and outlook
· Group Adjusted EBITDA up 12% following solid trading across the Group
· Facilisgroup: Revenue for HY 23 of £9.2m up 24% on HY 22 generating £4.3m
Adjusted EBITDA (HY22: £3.5m)
· Brand Addition: Revenue for HY 23 of £54.2m up 2.5% on HY 22 generating
£4.5m Adjusted EBITDA (HY 22: £4.4m)
· Gross profit margins increase 4.3 percentage points to 42.8%, driven by higher
contribution from Facilisgroup and improved margins at Brand Addition of 33.2%
(HY 22: 29.9%)
· Balance sheet strong and working capital cycle following its normal pattern,
with good profit to cash conversion resulting in a net cash position at the
full year expected to be circa £17m
· The Board expects FY 23 results to deliver on market expectations
Operational highlights
· Strong profit margins maintained in parallel with investments into our
technology, sales and marketing strategies
· In Facilisgroup:
· New wins saw Syncore grow to 238 Partners at 4 September 2023 (31
December 2022: 225) with a strong pipeline
· Commercio Stores, our ecommerce offering introduced in 2022, became
revenue generating with, to date, circa 20% of Partners utilising the product
· Good progress made on the development of the Orders product, aimed at
smaller distributors, with a Beta version launched in H2 2023
· Brand Addition revenue growth continues to be underpinned by its diverse and
loyal client base with investments into ESG and global capabilities further
differentiating the business with its target market
Commenting on the results, Chris Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Pebble Group
said: "Our attractive markets and blue-chip clients have seen Facilisgroup and
Brand Addition trade solidly in the first half, as we deliver against our
stated strategies. Both businesses have strong and differentiated market
positions and we look forward to FY 23 when results are expected to be in line
with market expectations. We anticipate that Facilisgroup will become the
majority contributor to our profits as we move through 2024."
(1) Adjusted EBITDA means operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and
share-based payments charge
(2) Net cash/(debt) is calculated as cash and cash equivalents less borrowings
(excluding lease liabilities)
(3) Adjusted basic earnings per share ("EPS") represents Adjusted Earnings meaning
profit after tax before amortisation of acquired intangible assets and
share-based payments charge divided by a weighted average number of shares
Online analyst and investor presentation
A presentation for sell-side analysts will take place at 8:00am today by
webinar. Those wishing to attend should email investors@thepebblegroup.com
(mailto:investors@thepebblegroup.com)
The management team is hosting an online investor presentation with Q&A at
12.30pm on Friday, 8 September 2023. To participate, please register with PI
World at https://bit.ly/PEBB_H123_webinar (https://bit.ly/PEBB_H123_webinar)
Enquiries:
The Pebble Group Temple Bar Advisory (Financial PR)
Chris Lee, Chief Executive Officer Alex Child-Villiers
Claire Thomson, Chief Financial Officer William Barker / Sam Livingstone
+44 (0) 750 012 4121 +44 (0) 207 183 1190
pebble@templebaradvisory.com (mailto:pebble@templebaradvisory.com)
Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nominated Adviser) Berenberg (Corporate Broker)
Samantha Harrison / Harrison Clarke / Ciara Donnelly Ben Wright / Marie Moy / Yasmina Benchekroun
+44 (0) 207 184 4384 +44 (0) 203 207 7800
About The Pebble Group
The Pebble Group is a provider of digital commerce, products and related
services to the global promotional products industry, comprising two
differentiated businesses, Facilisgroup and Brand Addition, focused on
specific areas of the promotional products market. For further information,
please visit www.thepebblegroup.com (http://www.thepebblegroup.com/) .
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REVIEW
Summary of results
We are pleased to report that both of our businesses, Facilisgroup and Brand
Addition, traded solidly throughout HY 23, with the Group achieving Revenue of
£63.3m (HY 22: £60.3m), Adjusted EBITDA of £7.5m (HY 22: £6.7m) and
Operating profit of £3.3m (HY 22: £3.1m).
The Group's balance sheet is underpinned by Brand Addition's blue-chip client
base with Group working capital and cash management following its usual
in-year cycle. Our businesses have a good track record of converting profit to
cash, which has continued, and the Group had Net cash at 30 June 2023 of
£4.2m (30 June 2022: Net debt £0.1m and 31 December 2022: Net cash £15.1m).
Facilisgroup: providing a digital commerce platform for promotional products
businesses in North America
Revenue and profit analysis
HY 23 HY 22 FY 22
Recurring revenue £8.6m £7.0m £15.5m
Other revenue £0.6m £0.4m £1.1m
Total revenue £9.2m £7.4m £16.6m
Gross profit margin 100% 100% 100%
Adjusted EBITDA £4.3m £3.5m £9.0m
Operating profit £2.2m £1.7m £5.0m
Total revenue, the vast majority of which is recurring, increased by 18.4% in
USD, the business's home currency, and 24.3% in GBP, compared to HY 22. The
strong profit margins have been maintained alongside investing in our
technology, sales and marketing strategies.
The Gross Merchandise Value ("GMV") transacted through our technology
increased by 9% to USD688m (HY 22: USD630m) and total Partners (customers of
our flagship product, Syncore) at 4 September 2023 grew to 238 (31 December
2022: 225) backed by an increasing new business pipeline. Strong Partner
retention rates continue, demonstrating how our technology and related
services are key to their business operations.
Our aim at Facilisgroup has been to extend the breadth of our technology to
offer both order workflow and ecommerce solutions to the circa 20,000
distributors across the North American promotional products market. We are
pleased to report that by the end of 2023, the following products will be in
market:
Syncore: Order workflow, focussed on distributors with revenues of >USD2m.
This is our flagship product upon which results to date have been principally
based
Commercio Stores: Ecommerce Stores, aimed at all sizes of distributors.
Launched to market in H2 2022
Commercio Orders: Order workflow, focussed on distributors with revenues of
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