Trading Update - issued on 14 April 2008
GB Group plc, the UK’s leading identity management business, announces a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2008.
Overview
The Group has completed a year of good progress and expects to record significant revenue growth in the second half of the financial year to approximately £11.5 million (2007: £7.9 million), an increase of 45% compared to the corresponding period last year. The Group’s investment in infrastructure and people, to continue the development of its electronic age and identity verification business, has continued. The substantial uplift in revenue from this business has more than offset these additional costs and the Group is expected to generate profit before tax in the second half of the financial year of approximately £0.6 million (2007: £0.6 million loss).
Results for the full year are expected to show revenue growth of approximately 30% to £19.4 million (2007: £14.9 million) and a significant narrowing of full year loss (before tax and after the charge for share based payments of £0.2 million) to approximately £0.4 million (2007: £1.2 million loss).
Further highlights for the year to 31 March 2008 are as follows:
• Growth during the year came principally from a strong performance in GB’s DataAuthentication business which is expected to record an increase in revenue of approximately 58%. Revenue growth has come both from new clients which were signed during the year, including Blyk and Ladbrokes, and increased usage by existing clients.
• GB’s DataIntegrity and DataSolutions businesses are expected to generate an increase in revenues of approximately 16% compared to the previous year. Identity management and integration with DataAuthentication are becoming more important themes for these businesses.
• Cash balances were £4.3 million at 31 March 2008 (2007: £5.2 million).
Outlook
The Group is seeing increasing evidence of a move from manual to electronic methods of identity verification. Additionally, a new industry sector is emerging that deals with how businesses verify and manage the identity of their customers to minimise fraud and regulatory risk. GB has the capability to continue its lead in this emerging sector and will invest accordingly to maximise this opportunity over the long term.
The Group will provide further details of its trading performance at the time of its preliminary results announcement, which is expected to be released in late May 2008.
-Ends-
Release date: 14 April 2008
For further information, please contact:
GB Group plc
John Constantin, Company Secretary
Tel: 01244 657333
Weber Shandwick Financial
Ian Bailey
Rachel Martin
Hannah Marwood
Tel: 020 7067 0700
April 2008