Gateley Holdings Regulatory News (GTLY)

Gateley (Holdings) Plc 

("Gateley" or the "Group")

Trading Update

Gateley (AIM:GTLY), the national commercial law and complementary professional services group, is pleased to provide a trading update for the financial year ended 30 April 2017.

Trading in the second half of the financial year has exceeded expectations in revenue enabling the Group to further invest in the business. The Group is pleased to report that, subject to audit, revenue for the financial year ended 30 April 2017 will be not less than £77 million (2016: £67 million). Adjusted EBITDA* is expected to be in line with market expectations at not less than £14.7 million (2016: £12.9 million).

The Group's legal business lines continue to perform well and provide a strong platform for further expansion of the wider Group. The integration of our acquired complementary businesses, together with the continued investment in new staff and the development of our newly opened Reading office, have been a positive focus for us during the year.

The Board remains extremely pleased with the level of share incentive scheme participation across the Group, as reported in our half year statement. We continue to look to strengthen our offering to clients and have experienced another significant year of staff recruitment across the Group including new skills and service lines from our complementary businesses of Gateley Capitus Limited and Gateley Hamer Limited.

The Board expects to recommend a final dividend in line with its stated dividend policy of distributing up to 70% of the Group's after tax profits.

The Group results for the year will be announced in mid-July 2017.

Mike Ward, Chief Executive of Gateley commented: "I am delighted with the continued progress made by the Group in the year. This represents another year of expansion for us. This has been possible due to the strength of our service offering, the depth of our client relationships and the growth in our teams of skilled professionals."

* Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxation, income or expenses that relate to non-underlying items, depreciation, amortisation, impairment and non-cash charges relating to share based payments.