Last checked at 30 Jan 2024 07:00
30 January 2024
Argentex Group PLC
("Argentex" or the "Group")
Trading Update
Appointment of Interim CFO
Argentex Group PLC (AIM: AGFX), the provider of currency management and payment solutions to international institutions and corporates, today issues a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2023 and announces the appointment of an Interim CFO.
Trading Update
On 10 November 2023 Argentex announced that it expected to report that revenue and operating profit for the 12 months to 31 December 2023 would be at approximately the same levels as for the twelve months ended 31 December 2022.
The Board now confirms that it expects revenues for the twelve months to 31 December 2023 of approximately £49.8m, compared to £50.4m for the twelve months to 31 December 2022*, and operating profit of not less than £8.0m, compared with £11.3m for the same period in 2022.
The Group invested, as communicated at the time, for growth in 2023, with significant investment in people, technology and overseas expansion. However, market conditions have remained challenging and there have been a number of costs which had not been anticipated previously.
*the Group changed to a 31 December year end reporting date in FY2022 and published audited results for a 9 month period to 31 December 2022. FY2023 results have been compared with an equivalent 12-month period for 2022.
Appointment of Interim CFO
Argentex is pleased to announce the appointment of Guy Rudolph as Interim Chief Financial Officer with effect from 31 January 2024. Guy is a qualified chartered accountant and began his career at PwC before joining Vodafone where he spent 16 years driving transformation across international teams in his roles as Group Audit and Risk Director, and Director of Group Financial Operations. He was also the deputy CFO of Camelot from 2017 to 2022 and later interim Director of Group Finance at Rank Group plc.
Jim Ormonde, Interim CEO of Argentex, commented:
"The results for 2023 are clearly below market expectations but we remain confident that there is a significant market opportunity for us to exploit. We will share our plans for the business with investors following the publication of our full year results in April and after we have completed our strategic review.
The Group continues to be profitable and highly cash generative, with a new senior management team fully focused on transforming the business to capitalise on the growth opportunities ahead. We will be looking for operational efficiencies in addition to sustainable growth and Guy's rigour will strengthen our forecasting capability and help drive cost discipline and accountability across the management team.
We are positive about the long-term outlook of Argentex and look forward to sharing the outcomes from the ongoing strategic review following the full year results in April."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK version of the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") which forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018; as amended. Upon publication of this announcement, the inside information is now considered to be in the public domain for the purposes of MAR.
For further information, please contact:
Argentex Group PLC
Jim Ormonde - Interim Chief Executive Officer
investorrelations@argentex.com
Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Tom Salvesen / James Maxwell / Angus Campbell
020 7496 3000