Empresaria Group Regulatory News (EMR)

14 Feb 2008 07:01

Empresaria Group PLC14 February 2008 Empresaria Group plc - Trading Update Empresaria Group plc ("Empresaria" or the "Group") Ahead of entering its closed period, Empresaria provides the following tradingupdate. Highlights •Revenue and net fee income almost double those of 2006 •Majority of revenue and net fee income now generated overseas. •Growth in all regions •Strong start to 2008 Group Chief Executive, Miles Hunt, commented "The Empresaria strategy is to develop a specialist international staffing groupbalanced in terms of sector, geographic and operational coverage, pursuing bothorganic and acquisitive growth. Our performance in 2007 demonstrates that theimplementation of this strategy is creating a high growth and diversified groupwith a strong and growing presence in developing staffing markets. Exposure todifferent specialist market sectors, combined with a strong management equityphilosophy, enabled the Group to grow through tough market conditions when theyhave occurred in the past and while it is entirely appropriate to exercisecaution in light of current market sentiment, Empresaria is strongly positionedin the event of an economic downturn to take advantage of opportunities thatarise as a result. Currently, the principal constraint on more rapid growth forthe Group remains tight labour markets and the difficulty in finding individualspecialist skilled candidates for clients. If the cooling of the more developedeconomies results in a loosening of skilled labour markets, specialist staffinggroups such as Empresaria should benefit." 2007 Trading Commentary The momentum generated in the first half of 2007 continued through to the end ofthe year with an acceleration of growth in all regions, particularly in Europewhere our German subsidiary, Headway Holding GmbH ("Headway"), started to reapthe benefit of new branches established early in the year, and in Asia whererecent start ups moved into profitability for the first time. The UK experiencedcontinued strong organic growth, particularly in the construction and propertyservices sector. Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2007 was approximately £146 million andnet fee income was approximately £40 million, a near doubling of the Groupperformance in 2006. The Board expects adjusted profits for the year ended 31December 2007 to be in line with current market expectations. The Group intends to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31December 2007 on 18 April 2008. International development programme bearing fruit 2007 was a transformational year in the development of the Group. In the yearthe Group invested in 4 acquisitions and 6 start up companies. It added over 35new branches and entered 7 new countries. Revenues are now generated by over 40subsidiary companies, with over 150 individual branches spread across 19different countries. The acquisition of a 60% interest in Headway in Germany, one of the fastestgrowing international staffing markets, combined with smaller acquisitions inHolland, Indonesia and Chile, marked the transition of the Group from a UKcompany with international operations to a more balanced international staffingcompany. More than 60% of Group net fee income is now generated each month fromoperations outside of the UK. The heavy investment in start up operations in Asia, particularly in India,China and the SE Asia region made during 2006 and 2007 is now beginning togenerate profits and gives the Group an increasingly strong presence in fastgrowth economies and staffing markets. 2008 Outlook The strong performance at the end of 2007 has been carried into 2008 and tradingin January is ahead of the Board's expectations. Demand for Group companyservices remains strong in all regions. In markets where some evidence ofeconomic downturn might have been expected, particularly in the UK, the Grouphas experienced no material change in market conditions. Although the Board iscautious about the wider economic outlook, it views the prospects for the Groupin 2008 with optimism. For further information contact: Empresaria Group plc 01293 649 900Miles Hunt, Chief ExecutiveNick Hall-Palmer, Group Finance Director First City Financial Public Relations 020 7242 2666Allan Piper Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited 020 7131 4000Azhic BasirovSiobhan Sergeant Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Capital Markets Limited 020 3205 5000Nicholas How This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange