Gb Group Regulatory News (GBG)

GB GROUP PLC

("GBG" or the "Group")

AGM Statement and Trading Update

GBG (AIM: GBG), the Identity Data Intelligence specialist, today provides an update on current trading ahead of its Annual General Meeting, to be held at its Chester Headquarters at 1.00 pm today.

Current Trading

GBG has made a positive start to the year and remains on track to deliver sustained revenue growth, meeting market expectations. During the first quarter we built upon our consistent year-on-year profit progress through organic growth and acquisitions. Our improved profitability is after making substantial additional investments in operating costs to accelerate our international expansion and to support our GOV.UK Verify service project.

The global market for Identity Data Intelligence is experiencing rapid expansion. It is driven by a variety of factors including: the increased use of data on a global basis for informing decisions; the growth in online transactions; and our clients' requirements to comply with increased regulation. Our dual approach of expanding our leading global product portfolio and entering new markets and territories means that we are ideally positioned to benefit from these market drivers. In addition, this approach leaves us better able to sell to and support existing clients and potential clients who operate globally.

Value Enhancing Acquisition Strategy

GBG has completed eight acquisitions in the past four years and all have been fully integrated and are performing well. Loqate, our most recent acquisition, completed in April 2015. It brings with it an established presence, team and customer base on the West Coast of the United States. Its major customers include Oracle, IBM and Pitney Bowes. Loqate's acquisition adds to our geographic reach - which now spans Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA from a base of 18 global offices - and also provides us with the potential to access new customers and ventures.

The Group's acquisition strategy plays an important part in our future growth and we remain alert to potential acquisitions that provide opportunities to develop the markets in which we operate and enhance our product portfolio.

Organic Growth

A high proportion of our recurring revenues are achieved from both SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings and software licencing models. This provides us with increased predictability and lower risk in forecasting our future performance and we expect these high quality revenues to continue to grow with new client wins. We expect to achieve double digit organic growth in the fiscal year by bringing new propositions to market and fully utilising the capabilities we have obtained through our acquisitions to date.

Dividend

As a result of our strong year-on-year performance and confidence in our future prospects, the proposed final dividend of 1.85p per share, which is submitted for shareholder approval at today's AGM, represents a 12% increase on last year.

David Rasche, Chairman of GBG, commented:

"We have enjoyed a strong start to the year as we continue to pursue and grow our leading position in the global identity data intelligence market. Our strategies are progressing to plan and, together with a healthy pipeline of opportunities and high levels of recurring revenue, we have confidence in maintaining our growth profile and providing increased value for our shareholders.

"Our progress this year has been made possible by our dedicated and high quality management team and staff and on behalf of the Board I would like to thank them, our shareholders and our customers for their continued support."

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About GBG

It's our vision to inform all business decisions between people and organisations globally.

Data is the fuel of the digital economy and our technology connects instantly to hundreds of databases across the globe, many of them on an exclusive basis. We help our clients use this data intelligently to improve their customers' overall experience whilst adhering to their own internal risk management, fraud or compliance procedures.

Headquartered in Chester (UK) and with 18 offices across the world, GBG provides solutions to many of the world's biggest organisations, from established brands like Nike and Harrods to disruptive newcomers such as Taskrabbit and Stripe.

It is our belief that if there's not enough data flowing around the economy, or if it's of poor quality, businesses will suffer. Simply put, customers need to trust that there is a clear value exchange with the organisations they interact with. That's why trust is at the core of everything we do, and why we promote a transparent, open and responsible use of people's personal information.

About GBG's solutions

We provide a number of business solutions aimed at informing decision making about customers or employees in key areas:

Employing people - we provide thorough background checks through online verification of individuals and key documents such as a driver's licence, enabling organisations to safeguard, recruit and engage with confidence 

Registering identities - GBG Matchcode360 registers identity data, such as name and address, contact information and social network IDs, quickly and with minimum impact on the customer experience.

Verifying identities - GBG ID3global provides more innovative ways of confirming identity than simply relying on credit data. It can check the identities of more than 4 billion people worldwide and also verify citizens of the world's 35 largest economies to the rigorous standards set by the world's financial regulators.

Building relationships - we work collaboratively with clients to make sure they use the data their customers share with them to create personalised customer journeys for each individual, responding to every interaction in real time

Fighting fraud - with the addition of GBG Instinct and GBG Predator, our fraud prevention solutions not only check new customers' details in real time as they register but monitor and detect application and transaction fraud on an ongoing basis.

Making connections - voted 'Best Newcomer' at the 2014 UK Retail Fraud awards, GBG Connexus confirms and locates the people our clients need to connect with. It saves valuable time and resource and ensures that good customers don't incur the cost of inefficient processes.

CitizenSafe® - we also offer our own brand - CitizenSafe - to UK citizens directly through the verify portal. In addition we have been chosen by the Royal Mail to be their ID verification partner, which means that GBG technology is behind 2 of the 9 choices available to UK citizens applying to sign up for government services online.

GBG is listed on the London Stock Exchange (GBG). For more information visit