21 Jan 2019 07:00
The information contained within this announcement (the "Announcement") is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this Announcement via Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
21 Jan 2019
Dods Group plc
("Dods" or "the Group")
Trading Update
Dods, a leading business intelligence, data, events, media and training company, issues the following trading update.
Trading performance
The Group has experienced challenging trading conditions in the UK over the past three months given its political and policy focus in both the UK and Europe. Whilst trading in October and November was broadly in line with our expectations, December closed significantly behind in response to unprecedented political uncertainty.
With fourth quarter revenues forecast to be lower than anticipated, against a backdrop of increased costs of delivery due to long lead time contracts, the Group has revised its expectations for the current financial year. The Board now expects significantly lower than forecasted adjusted EBITDA and a loss before tax (excluding non-cash impairments) for the year ending 31st March 2019.
With lower than expected new product revenues and contribution from the 30% Associate investment of £1.7m in the previous year, the Board is undertaking a review of the software, infrastructure, product offering, investments and intangibles to assess any further impairment impact for the year.
The Group continues to hold material cash reserves and has no debt. As at 31st December 2018 the Group held £7.3m cash at bank, including restricted cash of £1.27m.
Outlook
The Board is cognisant that the current hiatus in political decision making could continue to adversely affect our business beyond the current financial year end. With this in mind we remain focused on deploying the Company's robust balance sheet to generate growth through potential merger and/or acquisitions in related market sectors whilst continuing to preserve and invest in the Group's heritage brand and assets.
Whilst the market is challenging, the Board remains confident that, in conjunction with potential investments, the Group is capable of sustainable profit streams in the longer term.
For further information, please contact:
Dods Group Plc
Simon Presswell- CEO 020 7593 5500
Nitil Patel- CFO
Cenkos
Nicholas Wells 020 7397 8900
Mark Connelly
Callum Davidson