Yu Energy Regulatory News (YU.)

30 July 2020

Yü Group PLC

("Yü Group" or the "Group")

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Yü Group PLC, the independent supplier of gas, electricity and water to the UK corporate sector, today provides an update on trading for the six months ended 30 June 2020.

Group revenues for the period are expected to be approximately £45.0m (H1 2019: £56.6m), reflecting the impact of Covid-19 and the associated reduction in customer energy consumption. The Group is pleased to report that there has been a marked increase in customer demand throughout May and June and volumes are on trend to return to pre lockdown levels.

The Group's swift response in implementing robust measures to reduce the risks associated with Covid-19 has ensured that the business has been able to continue to operate whilst supporting all customers. Despite the challenges faced, the Group has been able to achieve increased bookings growth during H1 2020. Average monthly sales bookings for H1 2020 were up significantly at £6.2m (H1 2019: £3.2m).

Management has focused on maintaining the strength of the Group's balance sheet by preserving cash and actively managing working capital. The Group has performed ahead of management expectations with cash collection representing 99.5% of invoices raised in the period.

The new hedging facility ("Facility") arranged with SmartestEnergy continues to work well and has materially reduced volatility in the Group's cashflow and cash balances caused by advanced deposits. The Facility, which scales with the business, has postiviely contributed to Group's cashflows in H1 2020 with the Group generating robust operational cashflows in excess of £15m (H1 2019: £3.2m).

At 30 June 2020, the Group had a cash balance of £17.9m (£2.4m at 31 December 2019 and £17.4m at 30 June 2019) sufficient to meet annual industry payments due in H2 2020. The Group continues to have no debt financing.

The underlying performance at EBITDA level (before the impact of Covid-19) was strong and ahead of expectations set by management at the start of the year. However, due to the negative impact of Covid-19, adjusted EBITDA loss in H1 2020 is anticipated to be in the region of £2m.

Notice of interim results

The Group intends to publish its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 on Wednesday 30 September 2020.

Bobby Kalar, Chief Executive of Yü Group, commented:

"The health and wellbeing of our people has been paramount during the recent pandemic and I'm pleased that our business continuity plan has worked well. The Group's ability to adapt quickly continues to underpin the accelerated sales growth and efficiency plan. 

Bookings were deliberately slowed in early 2019 whilst processes and systems were redesigned. I'm pleased to confirm bookings have grown in 2020 and Q3 has started with a better than expected month of bookings as a result of our continued confidence around our processes. In addition, customer consumption levels have recovered significantly above that of management expectations with Q3 2020 trending towards pre Covid-19 levels.

Controls implemented across the organisation in H2 2019 are now fully embedded into our culture and continue to show a positive contribution towards cash collections, revenue protection and gross margin optimisation.

Covid-19 has impacted the Group, however notwithstanding this, management objectives for the current year will be to continue the momentum on recovering customer volumes and accelerating our growth trajectory in H2 2020. I remain confident in the outlook for the Group's growth and its future profitability."

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Notes to Editors

Information on the Group

Yü Group PLC, trading as Yü Energy, is an independent supplier of gas, electricity and water focused on servicing the corporate sector throughout the UK. It has no involvement in the domestic retail market. The Group was listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2016.