Frenkel Topping Regulatory News (FEN)

27 Sep 2005 07:00

Frenkel Topping Group PLC27 September 2005 * * * FOR RELEASE - 7:00A.M. - 27 September 2005 * * * FRENKEL TOPPING GROUP PLC ("FRENKEL TOPPING" OR "THE GROUP") INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY 2005 TO 30 JUNE 2005 Frenkel Topping provides specialist independent financial advice on theinvestment of personal injury damages and clinical negligence awards. FrenkelTopping offers a complete service for all personal injury claim handlers,lawyers and individual clients, dealing with awards from a few thousand poundsto multi-million pound cases. Frenkel Topping's expertise includes assetprotection, bespoke investment portfolios, analysis of periodical payments,Court of Protection portfolios and provision of trustee and receivership bankaccounts. Financial Highlights Turnover £1,238,198Profit before exceptional items, interest, taxation and goodwill amortised £ 94,937Loss before taxation and goodwill amortised £ (45,132) Adjusted earnings per share for the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2005were 0.21p. Operational Highlights • Funds under management as at 30 June 2005, £139 million• Business re-organisation successfully implemented• Frenkel Topping brand name established• Well-positioned to benefit from the introduction of the Courts Act• Improved trading since April 2005• £501,000 of investment disposals in July 2005 to provide additional working capital For further information:- Frenkel Topping Group plc - Richard Fraser (Chief Executive) Tel No. 0161 886 8000 FRENKEL TOPPING GROUP PLC RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY 2005 TO 30 JUNE 2005 CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT I am pleased to announce the Group results for the six months ended 30 June2005. For the period from 1 January to 30 June 2005, the Group recorded aturnover of £1.24 million and a profit on ordinary activities before exceptionalitems, interest, taxation and goodwill amortisation of £94,937. There was aloss before taxation and goodwill amortised of £(45,132). Adjusted basic earnings per ordinary share were £0.21p. Net debt as at 30 June 2005 was £515,942 and the net asset value of the Group asat 30 June 2005 was £3,435,877. The board does not propose an interim dividend. Our main achievement to date continues to be the establishment of the FrenkelTopping brand name as one of the leaders in the field of independent financialadvice for personal injury victims. However, a major change to the way personalinjury claims will be awarded was implemented with effect from 1 April 2005 whensections 100 and 101 of the Courts Act 2003 came into force. From this date,Courts have the power to impose periodical payment orders as part of a personalinjury or clinical negligence settlement. We are certain that periodical payment orders will produce a major change in theway personal injury claims are settled. A claimant's ongoing needs will have tobe fully assessed by a judge and the Courts will need the advice and expertiseof groups such as Frenkel Topping. The strength of the Frenkel Topping brandwill ensure that the company is well placed to take advantage of thesesignificant changes in the years to come. These changes in the market place, along with our own ambitions for the future,necessitated the implementation of a Group re-organisation which, as reported inmy last statement, would affect the results for this year. The Group hasincurred a number of one-off exceptional costs including redundancy andrecruitment costs, legal fees and increased marketing spend which will totalapproximately £150,000, and will be included in the financial results for theyear ending 31 December 2005. The costs incurred up to 30 June 2005 were£131,000. Our income is drawn primarily from fees and commissions together with recurringincome from investment funds under management. One of our key areas of focushas been to build our investment funds under management in order to providerecurring fee income. Since the year-end our funds under management haveincreased from £119 million to £139 million, thus supporting our target toachieve £250 million by the end of 2007. Trading has improved since the introduction of the Courts Act in April 2005 andwe expect this trend to continue for the remainder of this year and into 2006. On 22 July 2005, the Group disposed of 16% of the issued share capital of eachof Frenkel Topping Limited and Frenkel Topping Structured Settlements for thenet cash sum of £501,000 in order to provide additional working capital. David R SouthworthNon-Executive Chairman16 September 2005 Frenkel Topping Group Plc Consolidated profit and loss account for the period ending 30 June 2005 Six months ended Year ended 30 June 31 December 2005 2004 2004 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited) £ £ £TURNOVER 1,238,198 - 1,093,238Cost of Sales (575,270) - (579,079)Gross Profit 662,928 - 514,159 ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSESGoodwill amortisation (188,517) - (159,181)Exceptional expenses (130,991) - -Other (567,991) - (467,769) (887,499) - (626,950) OPERATING LOSS (224,571) - (112,791) Interest receivable - - 6,830Interest payable and similarcharges (9,078) - (36,840)LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIESBEFORE TAXATION (233,649) - (142,801)Tax on loss on ordinary activities 2,607 - (5,227)LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIESAFTER TAXATION (231,042) - (148,028) Non-equity minority interests 5,100 - (4,344)LOSS FOR THE FINANCIAL PERIODATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREHOLDERS (225,942) - (152,372) De Deficit brought forward (152,372) - -DEFICIT CARRIED FORWARD (378,314) - (152,372) Adjusted basic earnings perordinary share 0.21p - 0.02pBasic loss per ordinary share (0.50p) - (0.46p) Frenkel Topping Group Plc Consolidated balance sheet as at 30 June 2005 30 June 31 December 2005 2004 2004 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited) £ £ £FIXED ASSETSIntangible assets 3,437,226 - 3,628,243Tangible assets 119,407 - 139,931 3,556,633 - 3,768,174 CURRENT ASSETSStocks 161,524 - 80,893Debtors 682,556 - 793,938Cash at bank and in hand 2,809 1,127,300 15,568 846,889 1,127,300 890,399CREDITORS amounts falling duewithin one year (1,145,847) (76,600) (1,107,980) NET CURRENT ASSETS/(LIABILITIES) (298,958) 1,050,700 (217,581) TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENTLIABILITIES 3,257,675 1,050,700 3,550,593 CREDITORS amounts falling dueafter more than one year (8,487) - (67,756) 3,249,188 1,050,700 3,482,837PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES ANDCHARGES (5,612) - (8,219)MINORITY INTERESTSNon-equity minority interests 192,301 - 187,201NET ASSETS 3,435,877 1,050,700 3,661,819 CAPITAL AND RESERVESCalled up share capital 227,998 75,850 227,998Share premium account 3,586,193 974,850 3,586,193Profit and loss account (378,314) - (152,372)EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS 3,435,877 1,050,700 3,661,819 Frenkel Topping Group Plc Consolidated cash flow statement for the period ending 30 June 2005 Six months ended Year ended 30 June 2005 31 December 2005 2004 2004 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited) £ £ £Operating loss (224,571) - (112,791)Depreciation and amortisation charge 218,039 - 185,589(Increase)/ decrease in work in progress (80,631) - 52,940Decrease/(increase) in debtors 91,691 - (294,691)(Decrease)/increase in creditors (151,563) 76,600 (758,067)Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities (147,035) 76,600 (927,020) Returns on investments and servicing of financeInterest received - - 6,830Interest paid (9,078) - (36,840) (9,078) - (30,010)TaxationUK corporation tax paid - - (23,483) Capital expenditure and financial investmentPurchase of tangible fixed assets (6,498) - (7,381) (6,498) - (7,381)AcquisitionsPurchase of additional shareholding in subsidiaries - - (600,000)Net debt acquired with subsidiaries - - (309,010) - - (909,010)FinancingIssue of ordinary shares (net of costs) - 1,050,700 1,565,241Repayment of bank loans (13,296) - (23,956)Other loans advanced 250,000 - -Other loan repayments (77,159) - (39,299)Capital element of finance lease payments (4,580) - (6,554) 154,965 1,050,700 1,495,432 (Decrease)/increase in cash in the period (7,646) 1,127,300 (401,472) Frenkel Topping Group Plc Notes forming part of the interim results for the period ended 30 June 2005 1. The interim results have been prepared in accordance with theaccounting policies adopted in the accounts for the period ended 31 December2004. The interim results are unaudited and do not comprise statutory accountswithin the meaning of section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The interimresults were approved by the Board on 26 September 2005. The results for the period ended 31 December 2004 have been extracted fromthe group accounts for that period. Those financial statements have been filed with the Registrar of Companies and included an auditor's report which was unqualified. 2. The results include the acquisition of Frenkel Topping Limited andFrenkel Topping Structured Settlements Limited with effect from 28 July 2004. 3. Adjusted* earnings/(loss) per ordinary share is based on the adjustedprofit for the period of £93,566 and on 45,599,614 ordinary shares of 0.5pfollowing consolidation each being the weighted average number of ordinaryshares in issue during the period. The basic earnings per share is based uponthe net loss for the period of £(225,942). (*the adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated upon the results beforegoodwill on acquisitions and exceptional items) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange