RNS Number : 9632B
Personal Group Holdings PLC
25 March 2025
25 March 2025
Personal Group Holdings plc
("the Company", "Personal Group" or "Group")
Preliminary Results and Final Dividend
Double-digit revenue growth with strong operational progress
41% increase in full year dividend
Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH), the workforce benefits and health insurance provider, is pleased to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Financial Highlights
•
Group revenue from Continuing Operations*grew 13% to £43.8m (2023: £38.6m) with growth across all divisions
•
Annualised recurring revenue streams increased 13% to £43.4m as at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £38.3m)
•
Adjusted EBITDA** from Continuing Operations* increased 29% to £10.0m (2023: £7.8m)
•
Profit before tax from Continuing Operations* up 34% to £6.8m (2023: £5.1m)
•
Basic EPS from Continuing Operations* up 32% to 17.7p (2023: 13.4p)
•
Strong balance sheet and liquidity with a cash and bank deposits position of approximately £27.4m as at 31 December 2024 (December 2023: £20.1m) and no debt
•
Final dividend of 10.0p per share, making a full year dividend for 2024 of 16.5p, an increase of 41% (2023: 11.7p)
* Continuing Operations excludes the results of Let's Connect, which was disposed of on 9 July 2024
** Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation of intangible assets, goodwill impairment, share-based payment expenses, profit or loss on disposal of subsidiaries, corporate acquisition costs and restructuring costs.
Operational Highlights
•
Successfully simplified and streamlined the business, united behind a clear ambition and strategy
o
Disposal of Let's Connect, simplifying the Group structure, removing seasonality, enabling a greater focus on recurring revenue streams, and strengthening the balance sheet
o
Reorganised and strengthened team to deliver growth, including key strategic hires of Chief Operations Officer, and also Chief Sales Officer and Chief Commercial Officer post-period end
o
Delivery against strategy, informed by extensive market research identifying major areas of opportunity, and metrics in place to track progress
•
Another record year for Insurance
o
Annualised insurance sales increased 18% to £13.9m, driven by the success of our unique face-to-face sales model and relevance of our offering
o
Annualised Premium Income increased 14% to £36.0m (2023: £31.6m)
o
High levels of customer retention at over 80%, testament to the value provided
•
Enhanced Benefits offering providing a platform for expansion and driving recurring revenue growth
o
Increased uptake of Hapi for enterprise clients, and Sage Employee Benefits (SEB), for SMEs, delivering ARR up 10% to £6.7m (2023:£6.1m)
o
Won multiple industry awards, demonstrating the quality and competitive strength of the platform
o
Strengthened relationship with Sage, with the best-ever month of leads in November and December
Outlook
•
Momentum carried through into 2025 and is expected to continue as the Group delivers against its strategy of driving growth through expanding and enhancing its product offerings and growing its customer base whilst also deepening within existing customers
•
Strong balance sheet and high levels of recurring revenues, along with positive trading in the new year, provides the Board with confidence in Personal Group's growth acceleration
Paula Constant, Chief Executive of Personal Group, commented: "I'm incredibly pleased to be reporting on such a strong year of progress for Personal Group, delivering double-digit revenue growth and completing some major operational projects to position the Group for further growth. We have entered 2025 a stronger business with a clear plan in place to accelerate growth and capture the significant market opportunity. Our Insurance and Benefits offerings are more relevant than ever in the current climate and our results are testament to the value we provide. I'm excited about what lies ahead and in achieving our ambition to deliver in excess of £100m revenues, Group EBITDA of £30m and SaaS ARR of £20m by 2030 as we continue to pursue the significant opportunities in an underpenetrated addressable market."
Personal Group Holdings will host a webinar for analysts and investors today at 12.00pm. If you would like to register for the webinar, please follow this link: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/personal-group-holdings-plc/register-investor
For more information please contact:
Notes to Editors
Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH) is a workforce benefits and health insurance provider. Its vision is to be the champion of affordable and accessible insurance and benefits, keeping businesses and their employees happy, healthy and protected. The Group is proud to support the health and wellbeing of c. 1.25 million UK employees.
The Group's insurance provides employees with access to affordable, individual policies for hospital, recovery and death benefit plans. The Group's award-winning benefits platform, Hapi, brings together extensive employee benefits, discounts and rewards, in one responsive platform. As well as being sold direct to employers, the Hapi platform supports Sage's Employee Benefits offerings for SMEs.
This comprehensive range of offerings, powerful platform and unique sales model of face-to-face, one-to-one engagement with employees, provides Personal Group with a strong market position from which to grow.
Head-quartered in Milton Keynes, the Group has built an extensive blue-chip customer list over its 40-year history, including Airtanker, B & Q, Barchester Healthcare, British Transport Police, British Airways, Merseyrail, Office of National Statistics, Randstad, Royal Mail Group, The Royal Mint, Stagecoach Group plc, and The University of York
For further information on the Group please see www.personalgroup.com
CHAIR'S STATEMENT
The strategic initiatives that have been implemented over the last 18 months have provided a stronger platform on which to build, increasing the proportion of recurring revenue within the business, simplifying its structure and introducing increased operational rigour and integrity. As a result, the business has entered 2025 with real momentum.
The relevance of the Group's Affordable Insurance and Benefits & Rewards offerings to our customers and their employees can be seen in the growth of our customer base and high retention levels. We have seen several record insurance sales months again this year and are confident that we have room to improve upon these results further still, through continuing to refine our sales approach, expanding our product offering and engaging with additional partners.
The investment in our senior leadership team, including key strategic hires of Chief Operations Officer, Chief Sales Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, means we now have strength and depth across the organisation, and it is pleasing to see the newly formed team united by a common conviction in the growth strategy, the creation of which was a key priority for the Board.
I would like to thank the entire team for their continued dedication to supporting our customers, while delivering these strong results. Their passion for what we do is evident in the high level of customer service across the organisation, and it is their dedication and commitment that makes Personal Group the strong organisation that it is.
Strategic execution delivering strong performance
We have successfully delivered across our KPIs once again this year, achieving double-digit revenue growth from continuing operations of £43.8m (2023: £38.6m) and EBITDA growth of 29% at £10.0m (2023: £7.8m). We continue to benefit from a strong balance sheet, generating cash from operations in the year of £11.4m, increasing our cash and bank deposits position to £27.4m as at 31 December 2024 (2023: £20.1m) with no debt. Importantly, following the disposal of Let's Connect, recurring revenues continued to increase, now represent 92% of total Group revenue from continuing operations (2023: 93%).
Our Affordable Insurance division and successful face-to-face sales approach continues to be a major asset of the business, once again delivering a record performance, driven by record new sales and high retention rates.
Benefits platform revenue has also continued to grow, delivering increased levels of annual recurring revenue ("ARR") and with the migration of customers to the second generation of the platform now all but complete, the future for this division looks promising.
The contribution from Pay & Reward increased this year, supported by a significant contract win with British Airways, and the division has developed innovative digital offerings which we are now looking to roll out further.
ESG
Personal Group is a business very much guided by its purpose, and the Board remains committed to maintaining high standards of ESG, ensuring we build a strong business in a responsible way. We continue to reduce the Group's already low carbon footprint, while fostering an inclusive, progressive and diverse working environment. Our ESG metrics were incorporated into our Group bonus scheme for the first time this year, and we are delighted that all targets were achieved.
Dividend
I am pleased to announce that the Board has recommended a final ordinary dividend of 10.0 pence per share which will be paid on 14 May 2025 to members on the register as at 4 April 2025 (the record date). Shares will be marked ex-dividend on 3 April 2025. This makes a total ordinary dividend for 2024 of 16.5 pence per share, representing an increase of 41% year-on-year (2023: 11.7p).
Increased profitability across the growing business in the second half of the year as well as the net cash inflow and realisation of working capital resulting from the disposal of Let's Connect has resulted in the cash balances of the Group being significantly increased and this enhanced cash position is reflected in an increased dividend to shareholders. While the disposal of Let's Connect has contributed to this year's enhanced return, our policy remains to grow the dividend progressively in line with earnings and cash flow generation.
Confident Outlook
The successes of 2024 have continued into 2025 and we see real momentum across the business. Personal Group's high levels of recurring revenue provide high levels of visibility, and strong cash generation give the Board considerable confidence. We will continue to invest in our people and offerings to ensure we capture the significant opportunity ahead, and in doing so deliver increasing returns for our shareholders.
Martin Bennett
Non-Executive Chair
25 March 2025
GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT
I am excited to report on another strong financial performance by Personal Group, in my first full year as CEO, with double-digit revenue growth across all divisions. In addition, we have thoroughly underpinned our strategy and have started implementing what is required for accelerated growth in future years.
We have delivered another record year in Insurance sales, supported by our unique face-to-face sales model, increasing efficiency and effectiveness through forensic operational management and strong team engagement. We have also secured notable new client wins, including DHU Healthcare and Freshpak, and maintained high levels of customer retention across all our offerings, resulting in strong growth in our recurring revenues, providing high levels of visibility and strong cash generation. As importantly, we have significantly shortened our time to process claims and handle queries, with exemplary customer review scores and have been recognised for our dedicated approach to vulnerable customer treatments. It is clear that we offer solutions which resolutely address customer needs, with exceptional customer support.
Much work has been undertaken to strengthen and streamline the business and we have exited the year with a leaner, more capable organisation geared for further growth and ready to execute on our strategy. The successful migration of customers onto the next generation of our Benefits platform, Hapi 2.0, provides a basis for greater Benefits adoption and expansion. We have reorganised and strengthened our team, including the key strategic hires of a new Chief Operations Officer and, more recently, a Chief Sales Officer for new and existing business and a Chief Commercial Officer to grow our product portfolio and optimise our profitability. Considerable progress has been made in enhancing our data insight, risk frameworks, contract management and security to create a more robust business on which to build.
United behind a clear strategy
Crucially, the Group is now united behind clarity of ambition supported by a clear strategy, with KPIs to track progress. This strategy is informed by the extensive market research undertaken in my first year as CEO, which highlighted the strength of the Group's market positioning and key areas of opportunity.
Our strategy has four key pillars: Expansion, Innovation, Adoption and Partnering. Insurance growth will be driven by expanding within customer accounts and deepening our addressable employee base, alongside winning new clients directly and through partnerships, and expanding our insurance offering into new products and channels. Growth in Benefits & Rewards will come from the increased adoption of the Hapi platform across our Insurance customer base and expansion of our market reach, predominantly through partnerships.
Our ambition is to exit 2030 having delivered in excess of £100m revenues, group EBITDA of £30m and recurring revenues of £20m and we are confident in our ability to achieve this organically. That said, our strong balance sheet and excellent cash generation also enables us to consider complementary acquisitions that would provide additional products or expertise and accelerate growth. We are continuing to explore potential M&A activity and we remain open to acquisition opportunities that meet our criteria and we see to be strengthening to the existing business divisions.
Sales and Operational Review
The Group made strong progress across both our Affordable Insurance and Benefits & Rewards divisions, enhancing and expanding our product offerings and growing our reach through partners.
Affordable Insurance
The Group delivered another record year in Insurance sales, including another record month in September, with new annualised insurance sales increasing by 18% in the year to £13.9m. We are proud to have increased both productivity and quality through our forensic analysis of team activity and management in addition to a laser focus on the early cancellations, which reduced by 10% year-on-year.
Claims levels increased year-on-year, as anticipated, to £8.5m (2023: £6.9m). Customer retention levels remained high at over 80% year-on-year, testament to the value provided. We have invested huge efforts in improving customer service, achieving a Trustpilot score of 4.9, which we believe to be outstanding in our industry. In addition, claims processes have improved throughout the year, with the business processing more than 95% claims within 48 hours in Q4 with this standard expected to be maintained going forward. Given this strong performance, Insurance Annualised Premium Income increased 14% to £36.0m (2023: £31.6m).
2025 Insurance objectives
We are focused on increasing our penetration of new employees, particularly within our top 100 accounts, which we are dissecting in terms of visit frequency and attendance by skill. Further opportunities to improve penetration include expanding our offering into new, adjacent products associated with 'protection' and increasing our routes to market through partnerships. We have identified our Group Cash plan and digital insurance options as the first two potential avenues to thoroughly test in 2025.
Benefits & Rewards
The Group's digital benefits platform, Hapi, directly and via our SME-focused partnership with Sage, performed well and secured new clients, delivering ARR growth by 10% to £6.7m (2023: £6.1m). We improved customer churn by over 20% by further digitising processes and handoffs.
Hapi's performance was steady in the year, delivering ARR of £2.7m (2023: £2.5m), underpinned by 27 new Benefits clients won in 2024, comparable to the previous year, up 10% in average value per win year-on-year. Notable new client wins for Hapi include the Office of National Statistics, DHU Healthcare and Karbon Homes. We won a number of industry awards in the year, including Best Use of Technology in the 2024 Health and Wellbeing Awards, and Best Use of Technology in Benefits in the 2024 Workplace Savings & Benefits Awards, demonstrating the competitive strength of our platform. These, alongside the increased uptake of our Benefits offerings and Hapi's top class Trustpilot score of 4.3, are evidence of the quality of our offering.
A significant area of focus for the team in 2024 was the migration of customers onto Hapi 2.0, our next generation platform. We are delighted at the pace and the effectiveness of our migration, with the vast majority of customers (99.9%) now on the new platform. Customer feedback has been excellent, with the enhanced platform providing improved user navigation and personalisation, the reward and recognition features being strongly embraced, and the self-serve capability providing better flexibility. As importantly, consolidating code from the two platforms into one significantly reduces our operating costs into 2025.
During the year we also launched SEB 2.0 (Sage Employee Benefits), based on Hapi 2.0, and migrated all Sage customers to the next generation platform within weeks. The Group also strengthened its relationship with Sage in the year and had its best-ever month of leads in November and December, providing a strong position from which to expand into new segments and geographies in 2025.
The Group's Pay & Reward division, comprising Innecto and QCG, now consolidated as one operating group under the Innecto brand, performed well, with ARR increasing to £0.71m (2023: £0.67m). This was largely due to the significant three-year contract with British Airways signed in the first quarter, worth £650,000, contributing approximately £100,000 per annum in ARR. The contract includes reward consultancy, the implementation of Innecto's job evaluation tool and the development of a career pathway interface, which is expected to launch in 2025. The consultancy services and subsequent SaaS tools continue to serve an important strategic function.
2025 Benefits & Rewards objectives
Now that the migration onto the new platform is nearly complete, the Group has the capabilities and bandwidth to focus on accelerating growth in Benefits. We are progressing various initiatives to upsell our benefits modules to Insurance customers, including Reward and Recognition (R&R) and Transform, our wellbeing health and fitness module, and are implementing greater digital integration of our Insurance and Benefits offerings to reduce friction in the sales process.
Additionally, an important avenue for growth is via partnerships, and we are focused on increasing our leads across partners, progressing additional partnerships to target the SME market and monetising our eCommerce partnerships. We are pleased to have agreed a new consultancy partnership early in 2025, which has opportunity to and interest in expanding to benefits platform sales later in the year.
Within our Pay & Reward division, our priority is the completion of an industrialised tool for Innecto and the launch of the British Airways career pathways tool.
Passionate about our Purpose
At Personal Group, our Purpose is at our core: to keep businesses and their employees happy, healthy and protected. This includes supporting our own employees and, to that end, we have implemented 11 new employment policies, placing us ahead of other businesses our size.
To cement adherence to our ESG targets across the organisation, we have established a new Bonus Gateway to make our ESG metrics and targets a more meaningful part of renumeration for all employees, removing their inclusion from any LTIP portion. We are pleased to have achieved progress on every dimension of ESG in 2024.
Outside of the organisation, Personal Group is committed to ensuring our customers are cared for above and beyond the FCA's Consumer Duty regulations, and we have established an internal working group to deliver these requirements. Our endeavours were recognised in the year when we were awarded the Vulnerable Consumer Duty award in the inaugural Consumer Duty awards.
Serving our communities is also integral to Personal Group's ethos, and in the year we focused our Personal Assurance Charitable Trust donations, for which we pledge at least 1% of EBITDA or a minimum of £100k each year, on charities within three main areas: employee charity of choice, customers and policy holders, and the local community. We also launched a new Volunteering Policy which is participated in across all levels of the organisation.
Outlook
Personal Group has entered 2025 a stronger, simpler business with a clear strategy in place to accelerate growth and capture the significant market opportunity. We will build on our momentum by further refining our sales processes and expanding through product innovation and new routes to market. The Group continues to benefit from a strong balance sheet and high levels of recurring revenues, providing confidence in continued growth.
Paula Constant
Group Chief Executive
25 March 2025
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER'S STATEMENT
Group revenue
Group revenue from continuing operations grew 13% to £43.8m (2023: £38.6m).
A strong performance in our Insurance segment, driven by another record year of new policies written, resulted in growth of the insurance book to £36.0m Annualised Premium Income (API) (2023 £31.6m), the majority of which continues to renew on weekly or monthly rolling contracts.
In line with our strategy, our previously separate Benefits Platform, and Pay and Reward, segments have been combined to form one new "Benefits & Reward" segment. Income in this segment increased to £10.2m for the year (2023: £8.9m) with growth arising from both SaaS and Consultancy income.
Other income increased to £1.4m (2023: £1.0m) as a result of further leveraging the increased cash deposits held by the insurance subsidiaries.
The Group continues to build its recurring revenues across all business lines, with over 90% of reported revenue from continuing operations for 2024 deriving from one of these sources, providing confidence and visibility as we enter 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations for the year grew 29% to £10.0m (2023: £7.8m) following increases in contribution from the insurance segment, where underwriting profit continued to deliver strong margins while growing in line with the size of the insurance book. The ongoing value of our insurance proposition to our policyholders can be seen in the upturn in our claims ratio to 29.1% (2023: 27.0%) as NHS activity increased throughout 2024.
The Benefits & Reward segment also continued to drive growth in EBITDA, with contribution up 20% to £5.2m (2023: £4.3m), driven by new platform sales in both Hapi and Sage Employee Benefits, our white-labelled product, as well as a strong performance across consultancy and digital reward platform sales.
Outside of the core segments, Group administration and central costs increased year-on-year reflecting inflationary wage and operating expense increases.
We continue to believe that adjusted EBITDA remains the most appropriate measure of performance for our business, reflecting the underlying profitability of the business and removing the impact of one-off items arising from past acquisitions on the Group's reported profit before tax. The definition remains unchanged from previous years.
Profit before and after tax
Statutory profit before tax from continuing operations for the year was £6.8m (2023: £5.1m), which includes £0.3m of restructuring costs across the Group. The tax charge for the year was £1.3m (2023: £0.9m), and profit after tax for the year £5.5m (2023: £4.2m).
Discontinued operations
Profit from discontinued operations of £1.0m (2023: £0.1m) represents the total after tax profits relating to Let's Connect which was disposed of during the year, including a £1.2m profit on disposal. Let's Connect was a seasonal business therefore selling the business mid-year left the Group with an in-year loss from activity to the date of sale.
EPS
Resulting earnings per share were up 32% to 17.7p (2023: 13.4p) from continuing operations. The calculation is detailed in Note 3.
Dividend
The Board has recommended a final ordinary dividend of 10.0 pence per share, making a total ordinary dividend for 2024 of 16.5 pence per share. The Board has considered the level of dividend in the context of both the underlying growth seen during the year and the increased in-year profit and cash realisation as a result of the disposal of Let's Connect, alongside continued confidence in the Group's business model and prospects. While the disposal of Let's Connect has contributed to this year's enhanced return, our policy remains to grow the dividend progressively in line with earnings and cash flow generation.
Balance sheet
As at 31 December 2024, the Group's balance sheet remained strong with cash and bank deposits of £27.4m (2023: £20.1m) and no debt. The Group's primary underwriting subsidiary, Personal Assurance Plc (PA), continues to maintain a conservative solvency ratio of 279% (unaudited), with a £7.6m surplus over its Solvency Capital Requirement of £4.3m. The Company has consistently maintained a prudent position in relation to its Solvency UK requirement. Personal Assurance (Guernsey) Limited, the Group's subsidiary which underwrites the death benefit policy, also maintained a healthy solvency ratio of 544% (unaudited), with a £3.6m surplus under its own regime.
Cash Flow
Cash generation is a key quality of the business and the business generated £11.4m in cash from operations in 2024 (2023: £6.7m). This has been particularly high in the year following the realisation of opening working capital in Let's Connect (c. £2.8m) prior to its disposal in July. Underlying cash generation remains strong.
With capital required of currently c.£10m to support insurance business and working capital, there is opportunity to invest to deliver the Group's business plans including product developments and enhancements as well as increasing the return to shareholders via an increased dividend and selectively considering earnings enhancing acquisitions that will enable acceleration of growth.
Segmental results
Segment
Description
Income Streams
Affordable Insurance
A directly owned benefit, provision of simple insurance products underwritten by Group subsidiaries.
Insurance income.
Benefits & Reward
Provision of a benefits platform to employers both directly and through channel partners, currently Sage for our SME solution. Provision of a full reward service to employers through the Group's pay and reward subsidiaries, Innecto and QCG.
Digital platform subscriptions, commissions from third party benefits which sit on the platform. Consultancy, industry surveys and digital platform subscriptions.
The Group reports across two core segments as detailed in the table above.
For each of the segments, the adjusted EBITDA contribution comprises the gross profit of that segment together with any costs associated directly with the operation of that segment. Sales and marketing costs and other central costs that are not directly attributable to a segment, such as Finance, HR, depreciation, amortisation and Group Board expenses are not allocated to a segment and are shown separately as 'Group Admin and Central Costs'.
We believe this presentation provides transparency to enable the impact of top line growth on adjusted EBITDA contribution for each area of the business to be better understood.
Affordable insurance
Insurance revenue from the Group's core insurance business grew 12% to £32.2m (2023: £28.7m).
The continued success of our face-to-face sales activity, which directly engages employees with their employers' benefit provision, resulted in a second successive record year for new insurance sales, with £13.8m written (2023: £11.8m). The combination of these new sales alongside continued strong retention rates means that, as at 31 December 2024, we had £36.0m (2023: £31.6m) of Annualised Premium Income, and over 100,00 insurance payers.
The claims ratio for the year increased to 29.1% (2023: 27.0%), in line with general increased NHS activity across the UK.
Adjusted EBITDA contribution of £12.4m for the year (2022: £11.2m), reflected the increased underlying profit arising from increased revenue despite the increase in claims activity.
Benefits & Reward
Revenue from digital platform subscriptions and commissions from third party benefit suppliers which sit on the benefits platform rose 16% to £7.8m in 2024 (2023: £6.7m).
Subscriptions for our enterprise platform, Hapi, continued to build with ARR on the platform increasing to £2.7m (2023: £2.5m) with 27 new clients won during the year.
Our footprint in the SME market further widened with Sage Employee Benefits, the Group's SME proposition being taken to market through its partner Sage. ARR here increased to £4.1m at the end of the year (2023: £3.7m).
We delivered our largest ever reward consultancy project during 2024 and drove further growth in digital subscription income from proprietary HR solutions to £0.7m (2023: £0.6m). The operational merger of our Innecto and QCG businesses in the latter stages of 2023 also drove efficiencies in both delivery effort and costs through 2024.
Adjusted EBITDA contribution of £5.2m (2023: £4.3m) demonstrates the continued development in this segment and serves as a reminder of the opportunity for growth on which the Group plans to capitalise.
Group administration expenses and central costs
Group administration and central costs of £8.9m (2023: £8.7m) reflects inflationary cost increases associated with salaries, corporate and fleet insurances, IT delivery and other services.
Sarah Mace
Chief Financial Officer
25 March 2025
Consolidated Income Statement
2024
Restated^ 2023
£'000
£'000
Insurance Revenue
32,166
28,708
Employee benefits and services
10,277
8,931
Other income
136
139
Investment income
1,197
807
_________
_________
Revenue
43,776
38,585
_________
_________
Insurance service expenses
(16,915)
(14,593)
Net expenses from reinsurance contracts
(79)
(135)
Employee benefits and services expenses
(7,810)
(7,362)
Other expenses
(73)
(94)
Group administration expenses
(11,788)
(11,159)
Share based payments expenses
(202)
(169)
Unrealised gain on equity investments
123
181
Charitable donations
(100)
(100)
___________
___________
Expenses
(36,844)
(33,431)
___________
___________
Results of operating activities
6,932
5,154
Finance costs
(106)
(76)
_________
_________
Profit before tax from Continuing Operations
6,826
5,078
Taxation
(1,298)
(899)
_________
_________
Profit for the year from Continuing Operations
5,528
4,179
Discontinued Operations
Other owned benefits revenues
2,572
11,081
Other owned benefits costs
(2,837)
(10,825)
Gain on disposal
1,167
-
Taxation on Discontinued Operations
66
(111)
_________
_________
Profit for the year from Discontinued Operations
968
145
_________
_________
Profit for the year
6,496
4,324
_________
_________
The profit for the year is attributable to equity holders of Personal Group Holdings Plc.
Basic Earnings per share
Pence
Pence
From Continuing Operations
17.7
13.4
From Discontinued Operations
3.1
0.4
Total Basic EPS
20.8
13.8
Diluted Earnings per share
Pence
Pence
From Continuing Operations
17.0
13.1
From Discontinued Operations
3.0
0.4
Total Basic EPS
20.1
13.5
There is no other comprehensive income for the year and, as a result, no statement of comprehensive income has been produced.
^ Following the Group's disposal of its entire issued share capital of Let's Connect on 09 July 2024, Let's Connect has been classified as a discontinued operation, and the prior-year comparative figures have been restated accordingly in line with IFRS 5: Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations.
Consolidated Balance Sheet at 31 December 2024
2024
2023
£'000
£'000
ASSETS
Non-current assets Goodwill
2,684
2,684
Intangible assets
4,854
3,654
Property, plant and equipment
4,479
5,020
_________
_________
12,017
11,358
________
________
Current assets
Financial assets
9,912
6,961
Trade and other receivables
9,994
16,015
Inventories - Finished Goods
-
272
Cash and cash equivalents
19,060
14,571
Current tax assets
304
12
_________
_________
39,270
37,831
_________
_________
Total assets
51,287
49,189
__________
__________
Consolidated Balance Sheet at 31 December 2024
2024
Restated 2023
£'000
£'000
EQUITY
Equity attributable to equity holders
of Personal Group Holdings Plc
Share capital
1,562
1,562
Share premium
1,134
1,134
Share based payment reserve
24
24
Capital redemption reserve
495
513
Other reserve
(27)
(36)
Profit and loss reserve
31,652
28,798
_________
_________
Total equity
34,840
31,995
_________
_________
LIABILITIES
Non-current liabilities
Deferred tax liabilities
1,158
778
Trade and other payables
343
505
_________
_________
1,501
1,357
________
________
Current liabilities
Reinsurance assets
5
2
Trade and other payables
14,052
15,100
Insurance contract liabilities
889
735
_________
_________
14,946
15,837
_________
_________
_________
_________
Total liabilities
16,447
17,194
_________
_________
_________
_________
Total equity and liabilities
51,287
49,189
_________
_________
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended 31 December 2024
Equity attributable to equity holders of Personal Group Holdings Plc
Share capital
Share Premium
Capital redemption reserve
Share Based Payment reserve
Other reserve
Profit and loss reserve
Total equity
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
Balance as at 1 January 2024
1,562
24
1,134
513
(36)
28,798
31,995
________
______
______
______
______
________
________
Dividends
-
-
-
-
-
(3,857)
(3,857)
Employee share-based compensation
-
-
-
178
-
24
202
Proceeds of SIP* share sales
-
-
-
-
-
86
86
Cost of SIP shares sold
-
-
-
-
91
(91)
-
Cost of SIP shares purchased
-
-
-
-
(82)
-
(82)
Clearance of SBP Reserve for Lapsed Options
-
-
-
(196)
-
196
-
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
Transactions with owners
-
-
-
(18)
9
(3,642)
(3,651)
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
Profit for the year
-
-
-
-
-
6,496
6,496
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
_______
________
________
________
________
________
Balance as at 31 Dec 2024
1,562
24
1,134
495
(27)
31,652
34,840
________
______
______
________
__________
_________
_________
*PG Share Ownership Plan (SIP)
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended 31 December 2023
Equity attributable to equity holders of Personal Group Holdings Plc
Share capital
Share Premium
Capital redemption reserve
Share Based Payment reserve
Other reserve
Profit and loss reserve
Total equity
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
Balance as at 1 January 2023
1,562
24
1,134
367
(55)
27,946
30,978
________
______
______
______
______
________
________
Dividends
-
-
-
-
-
(3,482)
(3,482)
Employee share-based compensation
-
-
-
146
-
23
169
Proceeds of SIP* share sales
-
-
-
-
-
22
22
Cost of SIP shares sold
-
-
-
-
35
(35)
-
Cost of SIP shares purchased
-
-
-
-
(16)
-
(16)
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
Transactions with owners
-
-
-
146
19
(3,472)
(3,307)
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
Profit for the year
4,324
4,324
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
_______
________
________
________
________
________
Balance as at 31 Dec 2023
1,562
24
1,134
513
(36)
28,798
31,995
________
______
______
________
__________
_________
_________
*PG Share Ownership Plan (SIP)
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
2024
Restated 2023
£'000
£'000
Net cash from operating activities (see next page)
11,441
6,678
__________
__________
Investing activities
Additions to property, plant and equipment
(103)
(157)
Additions to intangible assets
(2,665)
(2,040)
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment
74
78
Purchase of financial assets
(2,828)
(3,749)
Interest received
1,197
807
Proceeds from the disposal of Let's Connect
1,840
-
__________
__________
Net cash used in investing activities
(2,485)
(5,061)
__________
__________
Financing activities
Interest paid
-
(1)
Purchase of own shares by the SIP
(81)
(16)
Proceeds from disposal of own shares by the SIP
85
25
Payment of lease liabilities
(614)
(530)
Dividends paid
(3,857)
(3,482)
__________
__________
Net cash used in financing activities
(4,467)
(4,004)
__________
__________
Net change in cash and cash equivalents
4,489
(2,387)
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year
14,571
16,958
__________
__________
Cash and cash equivalents, end of year
19,060
14,571
_________
_________
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
2024
Restated 2023
£'000
£'000
Operating activities
Profit after tax
6,496
4,324
Adjustments for Depreciation
1,143
1,135
Amortisation of intangible assets
1,429
770
Goodwill impairment
-
-
Profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment
(9)
8
Profit on disposal of discontinued operations
(1,167)
-
Realised and unrealised investment (gains)/losses
(123)
(181)
Interest received
(1,197)
(807)
Interest charge
106
79
Share-based payment expenses
202
169
Taxation expense recognised in income statement
1,232
1,010
Changes in working capital
Trade and other receivables
5,106
(2,569)
Trade and other payables
(839)
3,247
Insurance liabilities
154
(275)
Inventories
52
454
Taxes paid
(1,146)
(686)
__________
__________
Net cash from operating activities
11,441
6,678
_________
_________
Notes to the Financial Statements
1 Segment analysis
The segments used by management to review the operations of the business are disclosed below.
1) Affordable Insurance
Personal Assurance Plc (PA), a subsidiary within the Group, is a PRA regulated general insurance Company and is authorised to transact accident and sickness insurance. It was established in 1984 and has been underwriting business since 1985. In 1997 Personal Group Holdings Plc (PGH) was created and became the ultimate parent undertaking of the Group.
Personal Assurance (Guernsey) Limited (PAGL), a subsidiary within the Group, is regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and has been underwriting death benefit policies since March 2015.
This operating segment derives the majority of its revenue from the underwriting by PA and PAGL of insurance policies that have been bought by employees of host companies via bespoke benefit programmes.
2) Benefits and Reward
Revenue this segment relates to the annual subscription income and other related income arising from the licensing of Hapi, the Group's employee benefit platform. This includes sales to both the large corporate and SME sectors. This segment includes agency revenue generated from the resale of vouchers. Revenue also includes consultancy, surveys, and licence income derived from selling digital platform subscriptions.
3) Other
The other operating segment consists exclusively of revenue generated by Berkely Morgan Group (BMG) and its subsidiary undertakings along with any investment and rental income obtained by the Group.
Discontinued Operations - Other Owned Benefits
This segment constitutes any goods or services in the benefits platform supply chain which was owned by the Group, prior to its disposal in July 2024. As such, this segment is treated as discontinued operations within these accounts.
Segment analysis
2024 £'000
Restated 2023 £'000
Revenue by segment
Affordable Insurance
32,166
28,708
Benefits & Reward
13,024
11,691
Benefits & Reward - Group Elimination
(2,747)
(2,760)
Other Income
Other
136
139
Investment income
1,197
807
__________
__________
Group Revenue
43,776
38,585
__________
__________
Adjusted EBITDA* contribution by segment
Affordable Insurance
12,424
11,226
Benefits & Reward
5,215
4,330
Other
1,382
1,033
Group admin and central costs
(8,937)
(8,732)
Charitable Donations
(100)
(100)
__________
__________
Adjusted EBITDA*
9,984
7,757
__________
__________
Interest
(106)
(76)
Depreciation
(1,111)
(1,063)
Amortisation
(1,415)
(732)
Restructuring costs
(324)
(639)
Share Based Payments Expenses
(202)
(169)
__________
__________
Profit before tax
6,826
5,078
__________
__________
2. Taxation comprises United Kingdom corporation tax of £1,232,000 (2023: £1,010,000) including a deferred tax charge of £109,000 (2022: £122,000)
3. The basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations are based on profit for the financial year of £5,528,000 (2023: £4,179,000) and on 31,226,632 basic (2023: 31,226,632) and 32,417,783 diluted (2023: 31,977,184) ordinary shares, the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year.
4. The total dividend paid in the year was £3,857,000 (2023: £3,482,000)
This preliminary statement has been extracted from the 2024 audited financial statements that will be posted to shareholders in due course. The statutory accounts for each of the two years to 31 December 2024 and 31 December 2023 received audit reports, which were unqualified and did not contain statements under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The 2023 accounts have been filed with the Registrar of Companies but the 2024 accounts are not yet filed.
5. Prior Year Restatement
Let's Connect Disposal
Following the Group's disposal of Let's Connect on 9th July 2024, Let's Connect activities have been classified as discontinued operations. As a result, and in accordance with IFRS 5, the prior year income statement has been restated to split out the discontinued operations of Let's Connect.
Reclassification of funds held on deposit
Fixed interest rate bank deposits with the maturity date of three months or more from the date of acquisition are classified as financial assets. The reported balance sheet as at 31 December 2023 included a misallocation of cash held on deposit. These accounts were incorrectly reported as cash rather than financial assets. The prior year balance sheet has been restated to correct this allocation.
Neither of these restatements have had an impact on the bottom line profit or net asset position of the Group in the prior year. The Consolidated Income Statement and the Consolidated Balance Sheet have been restated in these financial statements as below.
Previous 2023 £'000
LC Disposal £'000
Restated 2023 £'000
Insurance Revenue
28,708
28,708
Employee benefits and services
20,012
(11,081)
8,931
Other income
139
139
Investment income
807
807
Revenue
49,666
(11,081)
38,585
Insurance Service Expenses
(14,593)
(14,593)
Net expenses from reinsurance contracts held
(135)
(135)
Employee benefits and services expenses
(18,077)
10,715
(7,362)
Other expenses
(94)
(94)
Group Administration Expenses
(11,266)
107
(11,159)
Share based payment expenses
(169)
(169)
Unrealised gains on Equity Investments
181
181
Charitable donations
(100)
(100)
Expenses
(44,253)
10,822
(33,431)
Results of operating activities
5,413
(259)
5,154
Finance costs
(79)
3
(76)
Profit before tax
5,334
(259)
5,078
Tax
(1,010)
111
(899)
Profit for the period after tax
4,324
(145)
4,179
Discontinued
Let's Connect - Income
-
11,081
11,081
Let's Connect - Expense
-
(10,825)
(10,825)
Let's Connect - Tax
-
(111)
(111)
Profit from discontinued operations
-
145
145
Overall Profit
4,324
-
4,324
Previous 2023 £'000
Deposits £'000
Restated 2023 £'000
ASSETS
Non-current assets Goodwill
2,684
-
2,684
Intangible assets
3,654
-
3,654
Property, plant and equipment
5,020
-
5,020
_________
_________
_________
11,358
-
11,358
________
________
________
Current assets
Financial assets
4,035
2,926
6,961
Trade and other receivables
16,015
-
16,015
Reinsurance assets
(2)
-
(2)
Inventories - Finished Goods
272
-
272
Cash and cash equivalents
17,497
(2,926)
14,507
Current tax assets
12
-
12
_________
_________
_________
39,265
-
37,829
_________
_________
_________
Total assets
49,187
-
49,187
__________
__________
__________
Previous 2023
Deposits
Restated 2023
£'000
£'000
£'000
EQUITY
Equity attributable to equity holders
of Personal Group Holdings Plc
Share capital
1,562
-
1,562
Share premium
1,134
-
1,134
Share based payment reserve
513
-
513
Capital redemption reserve
24
-
24
Other reserve
(36)
-
(36)
Profit and loss reserve
28,798
-
28,798
_________
_________
_________
Total equity
31,995
-
31,995
_________
_________
_________
LIABILITIES
Non-current liabilities
Deferred tax liabilities
790
-
778
Trade and other payables
567
-
567
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables
15,100
-
15,100
Insurance contract liabilities
735
-
735
_________
_________
_________
15,185
-
15,185
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
Total liabilities
17,192
-
17,192
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
Total equity and liabilities
49,187
-
49,187
_________
_________
_________
Alternative Performance Measures
The Group uses an alternative (non-Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (non-GAAP)) financial measure when reviewing performance of the Group, evidenced by executive management bonus performance targets being measured in relation to Adjusted EBITDA*. As such, this measure is important and should be considered alongside the IFRS measures.
For Adjusted EBITDA*, the adjustments taken into account in addition to the standard IFRS measure, are those that are considered to be non-underlying to trading activities and which are significant in size. For example, goodwill impairment is a non-cash item relevant to historic acquisitions; share-based payments are a non-cash item which have historically been significant in size, can fluctuate based on judgemental assumptions made about share price and have no impact on total equity; corporate acquisition costs and restructuring costs are both one-off items which are not incurred in the regular course of business.
This methodology is unchanged from previous years.
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