REG - Personal Group - Preliminary Results and Final Dividend
25/03/2025 07:15
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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
(https://www.investormeetcompany.com/personal-group-holdings-plc/register-investor)
For more information please contact:
Personal Group Holdings Plc
Paula Constant (CEO) / Sarah Mace (CFO) Via Alma
Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Max Hartley / Harry Rees +44 (0)20 7523 8000
Alma Strategic Communications +44 (0)20 3405 0205
Caroline Forde / Kinvara Verdon / Rose Docherty personalgroup@almastrategic.com
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 (https://www.hapi.co.uk/insurance/hospital-cash-plan)
, recovery (https://www.hapi.co.uk/insurance/convalescence-plan) and death
benefit (https://www.hapi.co.uk/insurance/death-benefit-plan) 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
(http://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 Insurance income.
by Group subsidiaries.
Benefits & Reward Provision of a benefits platform to employers both directly and through Digital platform subscriptions, commissions from third party benefits which
channel partners, currently Sage for our SME solution. sit on the platform.
Provision of a full reward service to employers through the Group's pay and Consultancy, industry surveys and digital platform subscriptions.
reward subsidiaries, Innecto and QCG.
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 2,684 2,684
Goodwill
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 Capital redemption reserve Share Based Payment reserve Other reserve Profit and loss reserve Total equity
Premium
£'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 Capital redemption reserve Share Based Payment reserve Other reserve Profit and loss reserve Total equity
Premium
£'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 1,143 1,135
Depreciation
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 Restated
£'000 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 LC Restated
Disposal
2023
£'000 2023
£'000
£'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 Deposits Restated 2023
£'000
£'000
£'000
ASSETS
Non-current assets 2,684 - 2,684
Goodwill
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 Deposits Restated 2023
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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