SHRE.L Regulatory News (SHRE)

24 October 2017

AIM: SHRE

Share plc

("Share", the "Group" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Share, which operates The Share Centre Limited ("The Share Centre"), a leading independent retail stockbroker, today provides an update on trading for the third quarter of the financial year ending 31 December 2017, including data on the Group's performance relative to its peers*, as measured by Compeer Limited, the independent business performance benchmarking company.

Highlights

Share's performance in Q3 is in line with upgraded management expectations, with revenues, excluding interest, increasing by 29% year-on-year. This increase reflected the benefit of book acquisitions, healthy trading volumes and net account transfers-in from other brokers.

Assets held on behalf of customers have also risen, increasing by 24% to £4.5bn year-on-year. This is a 6% increase quarter-on-quarter, ahead of the 1% growth in the FTSE All Share Index over the period.

Share's market share of peer group* revenues (excluding interest) continues to increase and, for Q3, the Company's share was 13.9%. This compared to 12.9% in Q2 2017 and 10.0% in Q3 2016. Including interest, Share's market share in Q3 was 10.5%, versus 9.7% in Q2 2017 and 7.7% in Q3 last year.

In October, we completed a significant upgrade to the functionality of first mobile App, launched in August 2016, enabling customers to trade and fund their accounts from the App. We expect this new functionality to help drive user numbers.

Review of revenue mix and performance

- Dealing commission (which currently accounts for c.58% of Group revenues) increased by 54% relative to Q3 2016. This growth was supported by a full quarter of the Computershare services that were launched in May 2017. The Share Centre retains a proportion of dealing commission paid by the customer, with the remainder being passed on to Computershare. Trading volumes across The Share Centre platform were up by 4% on Q3 2016. These results compared favourably with the peer group*, where trading volumes decreased by 6% and dealing commission declined by 14%.

- Fee income (which accounts for c.37% of Group revenues) increased by 2% relative to Q3 2016. Our peer group* experienced a rise of 1% in fee income over the same period.

- Interest income (which now accounts for only c.5% of Group revenues) increased by 40% relative to Q3 2016, reflecting the impact of the previously announced Direction, issued in April 2017 by the Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') which allows The Share Centre to deposit up to 60% of its client money balances for up to 95 days. Interest income for the peer group* increased by 5%. The FCA is currently consulting on proposed changes to the Client Assets Sourcebook, to permit firms to deposit an appropriate percentage of client money in an unbreakable term deposit to a maximum of 90 days. In effect, this would confirm the Direction already issued to us and other firms. The Share Centre currently holds client money balances of c.£360m, and therefore interest income could also materially benefit from any increase in interest rates.

*Market share data has been independently compiled and measured by Compeer Limited and the benchmarked revenue peer group comprises: Alliance Trust Savings; Barclays Stockbrokers; Equiniti; Halifax Share Dealing; HSBC Stockbrokers; Saga Personal Finance; Selftrade and TD Direct Investing (part of Interactive Investor)

Awards

In October The Share Centre was delighted to win a UK Customer Experience Award in the category of "Customers at the heart of everything (use of technology)", which was based largely on the approach that we are taking towards our Digital Transformation Programme. We were especially pleased to win this award because it is The Share Centre's first non-industry specific award.

Richard Stone, Chief Executive of Share plc, commented:

"The Company is continuing to make good progress. The 29% rise in third quarter revenue relative to the same period in 2016 is encouraging, and reflects both our own brand activity and the impact of new partnerships and book acquisitions. We are also pleased to see our market share rising to 13.9% in Q3 against 10.0% in Q3 2016.

"The Share Centre team has achieved further success this month, winning our first non-industry specific award, with a UK Customer Experience Award for our Digital Transformation Programme.

"We continue to build strong foundations for profitable growth and look forward to the future with confidence."

About Share plc:

Share plc is the parent holding company of The Share Centre Limited and its shares are traded on AIM. The Share Centre started trading in 1991 and provides a range of account-based services to enable investors to share in the wealth of the stock market. Retail services include share accounts, ISAs, Junior ISAs and SIPPs, all with the benefit of investment advice, and dealing in a wide range of investments. Services available to corporate clients include Enterprise Investment Scheme administration and 'white-label' dealing platforms.

For more details contact 0800 800 008, or visit www.shareplc.com or www.share.com

Risk Warning

This document is not intended to constitute an offer or agreement to buy or sell investments and does not constitute a personal recommendation. The investments and services referred to in this document may not be suitable for every investor and if in doubt independent financial advice should be sought. No liability is accepted whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any information in this document subject to the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority or the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Share prices, values and income can go down as well as up and investors may get back less than their initial investment. The Share Centre is a member of the London Stock Exchange and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference 146768.