Parity Regulatory News (PTY)

20 July 2020

Parity Group plc

('Parity' or 'the Company')

Trading Update

Parity Group plc, the data and technology focussed professional services business, today provides the following statement in respect of trading for the six months ended 30 June 2020.

Parity expects to announce its interims results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 in mid-September 2020. The Company anticipates that it will report revenues of approximately £30m and a modest adjusted profit before tax (before non-underlying items).

The Company remained cash positive at period end, with a net cash balance of £0.65m at 30 June 2020 (30 June 2019 net debt £1.2m) (both figures stated before IFRS16 lease liabilities). The improvement is mainly due to management actions including cost reductions and payment deferrals, some of which will unwind over the next year.

As stated in the final results for 2019 announced in April, the Board anticipates that Covid-19 impacts will, in part, be mitigated by cost savings achieved in 2019 and by the implementation of a new operating model which will deliver additional savings in 2020.

Encouragingly, the Company is now seeing a return of new sales opportunities, following the severe reduction in early stage opportunities and projects at the height of the pandemic. Parity made the decision not to furlough any staff in order to remain as close as possible to its markets and is encouraged by the recent return of activity and prospects. It is too soon however, given general uncertainty, to come to any conclusion on future trading prospects. The Board will comment further on full year outcome in September.

Commenting on the first half of the year Chief Executive, Matthew Bayfield, said:

"The Covid 19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our sector. However the decisions we made in 2019 around restructuring the business, have meant that not only were we able to avoid furloughing any members of staff but we have been in a position to recruit seven new people to join the business during the last three months to support our growth ambitions.

"Parity is a digitally enabled business and the move to working from home has been achieved without disruption to our productivity. I am very grateful to all of our staff for the way they have responded to the challenges presented by the pandemic. The management team are to be commended on the way the business has performed in extraordinary circumstances."

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This announcement contains certain statements that are or may be forward-looking with respect to the financial condition, results or operations and business of Parity Group plc. By their nature forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to (i) adverse changes to the current outlook for the UK IT recruitment and solutions market, (ii) adverse changes in tax laws and regulations, (iii) the risks associated with the introduction of new products and services, (iv) pricing and product initiatives of competitors, (v) changes in technology or consumer demand, (vi) the termination or delay of key contracts and (vii) volatility in financial markets.