1 Mar 2019 07:00
1 March 2019
AFH Financial Group PLC
("AFH" or the "Group" or the "Company")
AGM Statement
AFH Financial Group PLC (AIM: AFHP), a leading financial planning led wealth management firm, announces that at the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM"), to be held at 11-00 a.m. today at AFH House, Buntsford Drive, Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove B60 4JE, John Wheatley, Chairman of AFH, will update shareholders with the following statement:
"2018 was a period of exceptional growth for AFH as we continued to deliver on our vision of becoming the leading financial planning-led wealth manager in the UK. To this end, we produced our fifth year of improved profitability since joining AIM in 2014 with record revenues of £50.7 million, up 51% from 2017, an increase in Earnings per Share of 43%, an underlying EBITDA margin of 21% and a 50% increase in dividend per share to 6.0p, from the previous financial year.
"AFH completed 16 value accretive acquisitions capitalising on the ongoing IFA market consolidation in the sector and continued to deliver solid organic growth through greater productivity of our advisers. We continued to implement operational efficiencies and improve the customer experience for our clients by investment in technology and infrastructure and reducing investment costs by leveraging the increased scale of AFH.
"Looking to the current financial year, trading remains in line with expectations. We have continued the momentum of 2018 into the first four months of our new financial year with four acquisitions already completed, further expanding AFH's national footprint with over 250 IFAs now working across the UK. The acquisition completed in December 2018 with CTL Three Limited was our largest acquisition to date and saw us adding a further £530m to our Funds Under Management which currently sit at over £5Bn.
"We continue to integrate these new acquisitions into our AFH community using our dedicated in-house acquisitions and integration team that allows us to undertake multiple acquisitions and successfully integrate them. In aggregate, during the first four months of FY 2019, we continued to deliver over 90% of our aggregate deferred consideration targets, each of which required profitable growth from the businesses acquired to achieve.
"In addition, we have made a number of new senior management appointments to strengthen the AFH team and company infrastructure, adding external experience to the management team whilst developing existing staff and maintaining the AFH culture which is central to our company value proposition.
"In light of the strong financial performance seen in FY 2018 and the first four months of our new financial year, in January this year we set new three to five-year aspirational targets including achieving Funds under Management of £10 billion, revenues per annum of £140 million and an underlying EBITDA margin of 25% on revenue. The achievement of these aspirations will further cement our position as one of the leading financial planning led-investment management companies in the UK.
"Finally, we continue to be cash generative and maintain a strong balance sheet. We expect the consolidation within the investment and wealth management market to continue through 2019 and will continue to seek appropriately priced opportunities to expand our captive distribution throughout the financial sector, to drive increased profitability and enhance shareholder value.
"We look forward to continuing to update the market on our developments throughout the course of the year and would like to thank our shareholders, employees and advisors for their continued support as we continue to build AFH into the leading financial planning-led wealth manager in the UK."
**ENDS**
For further information, please contact:
AFH Financial Group PLC c/o Yellow Jersey +44 (0) 7748 843 871
Alan Hudson, Chief Executive Officer
Paul Wright, Chief Financial Officer
www.afhfinancialgroup.com
Liberum (Nominated Adviser and Broker) +44 (0) 20 3100 2000
John Fishley/Richard Bootle/Euan Brown
Yellow Jersey PR Limited (Financial PR) +44 (0) 7748 843 871
Felicity Winkles/Tim Thompson/Annabel Atkins