Mattioli Woods Regulatory News (MTW)

5 January 2023

Mattioli Woods plc

("Mattioli Woods", "the Company" or "the Group")

Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results

Mattioli Woods plc (AIM: MTW.L), the specialist wealth management and asset management business, today issues the following trading update in advance of its interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2022, which are to be announced on Tuesday, 7 February 2023. 

Highlights

· Revenue for the period up 10% to £54.9m (1H22: £49.9m):

- Resilient trading performance against complex macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop;

- Organic revenue growth of over 2% and increased new business pipeline, despite 2% fall in total client assets of the Group and its associate[1] to £14.6bn at the period end;

- Increasing ad valorem fees in second half aligned to market value improvement;

- Revenue in the second half historically higher than in the first half due to end of tax year advice, existing and new product manufacture and second half weighting of client year-ends;

· Gross discretionary assets under management[2] ("AuM") of £4.9bn, a 4% decrease in the period, with gross inflows of £314.1m (1H22: £384.8m[3]) and net inflows 0.8% of opening AuM;

· Progressed digital client experience with launch of MWise online investment platform;

· Recent acquisitions continue to perform in-line or ahead of budget and integrate well, with exciting and value accretive pipeline of new acquisition opportunities;

· Continued focus on managing costs, achieving intra Group synergies and maintaining profit margin;

· Strong financial position, in-line with expectation at £38.3m of cash held at period end (31 May 22: £53.9m):

- Maximum contingent consideration of £9.8m paid on recent acquisitions;

- Cash outflow of £9.1m on payment of increased FY22 final dividend; and

· Outlook for current year remains in line with management's expectations.

Ian Mattioli MBE, Chief Executive, comments:

"The Group delivered creditable revenue and profit before tax growth in the first six months of this financial year, despite the difficult economic and political complexities that persisted throughout the period. Our revenue model balances fee-based revenues for specialist advice and administration with revenues linked to the value of clients' assets on an ad valorem basis, which has allowed the Group to continue to grow and experience less sensitivity to movements from challenging investment markets. We continue to focus on securing good financial outcomes for our clients and putting them first in everything we do, whilst at the same time achieving both organic and acquisition based growth, and I am pleased to report further progress towards our medium-term goals. In the reporting period. The Group has maintained profit margins through prudent cost management and in realising further operational efficiencies. 

"Our pension and consultancy, employee benefits and private equity operating segments performed strongly during the period. Clients' demand for advice and proactive communications by advisers with our clients in such uncertain times resulted in an increase in advisory time, with the value of new clients on-boarded in the first half over 10% higher than the equivalent period last year. The success of our new business initiatives and the strength of existing client referrals resulted in organic revenue growth of over 2%, despite a 2% fall in the value of total client assets.

"Our Maven private equity business made further strong progress during the period, enjoying healthy levels of new deal flow across all segments of the business, leading to increased transaction based revenues. Pleasingly joint-fundraising with the Group became a feature of two recent Investor Partner deals generating significant fees through combining people talent and access to capital. Maven continues to enjoy a strong deal pipeline with a number of new tender opportunities during 2023 across the UK. 

"Our investment and asset management business, like many others in the sector experienced some pressure on asset values, but our multi-asset funds continue to offer the highest level of diversification as we seek to manage volatility in these difficult investment markets. Our discretionary managed funds performed in line with their benchmarks and represented a combined value of £4.9 billion at the period end, including more than £1.0 billion managed by the Group's associate, Amati Global Investors. For the first half of the year, gross inflows into our discretionary managed funds were £314.1m (1H22: £384.8m[4]), net inflows of £38.1m or 0.8% of opening AuM, with the balance of AuM influenced by market movements.

"During the period we continued to successfully integrate acquired businesses and our clients into the Group. Of the nine acquisitions the Group has made since July 2020, all are trading in-line or ahead of budget, and have delivered earnings to support full payment of any contingent consideration, building upon our track record of 34 successful acquisitions to date.

"Consolidation within the wealth management, pensions administration, asset management and financial planning sectors continues apace, and we continue to assess a strong pipeline of potential acquisition opportunities, with a disciplined approach, where all transactions are required to meet our strict investment criteria.

"We remain committed to our culture of putting clients first and to delivering on our ambitious growth plans for the business. We launched our online investment platform, MWise, which is now live and provides an additional distribution channel for new and existing clients. We are progressing our other strategic initiatives, including the development of our proprietary MWeb pension administration platform and the implementation of new third-party financial planning and wealth management software, which will deliver improved operational efficiency in future years. These initiatives are in-line with our historic guidance on expenditure of circa. £2m per annum.

"Our trading outlook for the remainder of the financial year is in line with management's expectations and the Group remains well-positioned to deliver long-term sustainable shareholder returns."

Notice of Interim Results

Mattioli Woods will be announcing its interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2022 on Tuesday, 7 February 2023. 

Ian Mattioli, Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Tara, Chief Financial Officer, and Michael Wright, Group Managing Director, will host an online analyst presentation at 09:30 GMT on 7 February 2023. Those analysts wishing to attend are asked to contact Julia Tilley at Camarco on +44 (0) 20 3757 4998 or at mtwplc@camarco.co.uk.

In addition, the Company will provide a live presentation via the Investor Meet Company platform on 10 February 2023 at 13:00 GMT. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 09:00 the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet Mattioli Woods plc via https://www.investormeetcompany.com/mattioli-woods-plc/register-investor. 

Investors who already follow Mattioli Woods plc on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

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