MJH.L Regulatory News (MJH)

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation.

 31 January 2022

MJ Hudson Group plc

(the "Company", "Group" or "MJ Hudson")

Trading Update

Underlying revenue ahead of market consensus; further investment underway to accelerate growth.

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH), the end-to-end solutions provider to the asset management industry, is pleased to announce the following update on trading for the six months to 31 December 2021.

Underlying revenue[1] ahead of expectations

In the announcement of its full year results on 25 November 2021, MJ Hudson reported that trading in the first quarter of FY2022 had been strong, continuing momentum from the six months prior, and that it expected strong trading to continue. Indeed, the Group has continued to perform well, winning multiple new clients, many of which are accessing multiple services. In addition, MJ Hudson is successfully executing its strategy to leverage the breadth of its services across the life cycle of its clients' funds and investments and to grow cross-selling revenues by offering existing clients new services and products from its multi-solutions platform.

As a result of this strong performance, underlying revenue for the full year ending 30 June 2022 is now expected to be ahead of market expectations. The Group is continuing to see positive momentum into the second half of its financial year.

Acquisitions and established services both performing well and winning new clients

Recent acquisitions (Saffery Champness Fund Services Limited, Clarus Risk, and Bridge Group) have integrated well and are already cross-referring clients. Both acquisitions and established business units of the Company have added new clients, and introduced new and extended services to existing clients, contributing to this growth. This includes:

1. The ESG and marketing solutions teams jointly won several mandates to provide technical and marketing services to a range of private markets fund managers

2. The Luxembourg fund services team won a mandate from a $600bn global fund manager, including ESG services

3. The law firm was instructed on a series of investments made by a FTSE 100 asset manager

4. The investment consulting team won a multi-year, multi-million-pound private markets mandate from a £35bn local government pension scheme pool

5. MJ Hudson Ireland has secured major clients, including a £20bn+ multi-strategy asset management house, pushing assets under management ("AUM") above €50bn. The team in Ireland is generating record revenue levels and is an exciting area of growth, moving into the second half of the year

Outlook

MJ Hudson sees significant opportunity for further growth and remains confident in the future performance of the Company. In addition to the supportive environment for organic growth, the Company continues to monitor for acquisition opportunities that can add scale and skills to existing service lines and provide new, complementary services for its clients. The Company is currently assessing several live M&A opportunities.

The Group's principal client industry of private markets is showing continued growth in AUM, as investors seek the higher returns that private markets can deliver. This leads to increased client need for regulatory and operational support, and for the tools to monitor and report on risk, performance and ESG, all of which MJ Hudson offers.

Preparing for further growth

The Company remains disciplined in its approach to operational and cost management, but continues to invest into growth, with this investment focussed on several key areas, each designed to accelerate the growth of the business:

1. Investing significantly in IT infrastructure and software development

2. Identifying and driving demand through direct marketing and lead generation, and launching a refreshed brand and new website, integrated into market leading sales and marketing systems (Salesforce, Pardot)

3. Building capacity in a highly responsive, centralised business development function, with a mandate to capitalise on the significant cross-and upselling opportunities afforded by the Company's broad range of complementary services

4. Extending the reach of MJ Hudson's advisory, outsourcing and analytical services by developing digital tools, such as the award-winning ESG Advantage platform (launched in October 2021) and the Fides IQ joint venture (launched in November 2021)

5. Investing in people and systems to increase the capacity of the busiest teams (including ESG) and supporting this billing and staff growth with the implementation of Workday, streamlining HR and invoicing

Matthew Hudson, CEO of the Group said: 

"I am delighted at the continued progress made by the Company in the period. Market activity is ramping up and we are perfectly placed to capitalise: as more investment flows into private markets, regulation grows and clients increase their focus on analytics and ESG, we expect demand for our services to increase further.

"To capture these opportunities, we are making significant investment into our infrastructure and teams. This will create greater operational leverage and drive significant and sustainable revenue growth, As the breadth and quality of our expertise and tools further establish the power of our brand, this will, in turn, lead to a much bigger, more profitable firm, in the mid-term.

"We are growing our share of a growing client market, at pace, and will keep our foot down hard on the accelerator. We will continue to update the market on our progress, and we look forward to the future with confidence."

For further information contact:

About MJ Hudson

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH) is the one-stop-shop solutions provider to the US$100 trillion+ asset management industry, specialising in its fastest growing segment, private markets (including private equity and venture capital).

The Company offers investors access to the growth in private markets as a tech-enabled 'picks and shovels' play.

Founded in 2010, by CEO Matthew Hudson (a private markets lawyer and former fund manager), MJ Hudson was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2019. The Group has grown to more than 300 professionals, serving more than 1,000 clients, across the globe, including some of the industry's largest players and 18 of the FTSE 100.

Several factors have contributed to the Group's success, to date, and support strong growth expectations, for the future:

1. Private markets are growing fast, and MJ Hudson provides the picks and shovels

2. As private markets grow, so do scrutiny and regulation, increasing the need for the Group's specialist advice and services, particularly in areas like ESG, where it has award-winning solutions

3. As it evolves, the sector is increasingly embracing technology, data, and analytics, where MJ Hudson has market-leading and award-winning tools and in which it continues to invest

4. The Group's multi-service approach creates multiple client touchpoints, building stronger, longer-term relationships, and making it easier to sell in additional MJ Hudson services

5. Performing these services generates vast amounts of data, which MJ Hudson aggregates and analyses, in order to further support its clients, by developing next-generation tools and fine-tuning existing services.

For more information, please visit our website: mjhudson.com/investors

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/mj-hudson/ 

Twitter: twitter.com/MJHudsonCorp