Preliminary results - year ended 31 March 2021

RNS Number : 7474D

finnCap Group PLC

01 July 2021

 

finnCap Group plc ("finnCap" or "the Company")

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2021

Record revenue and profit performance

Financial Highlights

· Total income up 84% to £47.6m (FY20: £25.9m)

· finnCap Capital Markets revenue up 84% to £34.5m (FY20: £18.7m)

· finnCap Cavendish revenue up 66% to £12.1m (FY20: £7.3m)

· Adjusted PBT⁽¹⁾ of £9.6m (FY20: £1.6m); PBT of £8.4m (FY20: £1.2m)

· Adjusted EPS:⁽¹⁾ 4.80p (FY20: 0.80p); Basic EPS: 4.41p (FY20: 0.49p) 

· Total dividends 1.5p per share (FY20: 0.80p)

· Cash of £20.4m (31 Mar 2020: £4.7m)

FY21 Key Achievements and Strategic Development

· Total deal and advisory fees of £33.4m (FY20: £16.0m)

· Completed 76 transactions

o  raised £723m equity through 36 public market placings and 4 IPOs

o  advised on 16 public and private M&A transactions with an aggregate value of c.£600m

o  debt advisory team delivered over £1m revenue raising £124m across 9 completed mandates

· Key hires to support client service and revenue generation:

o  ECM: investment in sales, corporate broking and ECM teams to support increased deal flow and maintain high   client service

o    Broadening sector expertise: Human Capital Technology, Consumer M&A, UK Technology and UK M&A;     Consumer Equity Research

o  New Sources of Capital: Family Offices and Private Growth Capital fund-raising; and

o  Origination function to support our private M&A activity

·           finnCap Analytics established: focused on servicing larger hedge funds and institutional investors

· Office move completed: integrating teams to enable them to deliver best solutions for clients and providing space for future expansion

ESG - Operating Responsibly

· Leading on small-cap ESG reporting: developed proprietary finnCap ESG Scorecard as well as partnership with and   investment in WorldWideGeneration Limited a leading provider of ESG benchmarking software

· Sustainability: External audit of our operating carbon footprint; offset measures implemented and certified as Carbon Neutral Organisation

· Education Focus: continued support for charities and enterprises focused on encouraging entrepreneurship skills and  understanding of business at junior and senior school levels

Current Trading (unaudited)

· FY22 has started well with revenue ahead of last year

· Cash at 29 June 2021 was £17.2m

· Deal pipeline remains strong, subject to equity market conditions, with a number of IPOs and equity fund raisings already scheduled and the expected completion of a number of private M&A transactions

· FY22 outlook: Expect revenue to be in the £40-£50m range; staff costs (excluding share-based payments) c.58-62% and non-staff costs c£10m

FY21 and FY22 Dividends

· Final dividend for FY21 to be paid as a second interim dividend of 1.0p per share expected in August in advance of AGM in September. Total dividends for FY21 of 1.5p per share (FY20: 0.80p)

· Reflecting the strength of the Group's start to FY22 and its cash resources, dividends payable for FY22 are expected to be no less than 1.6p per share, in the absence of unforeseeable circumstances

Commenting on the results, Sam Smith, Chief Executive Officer, said:

" Our FY21 results are a testament to the great team we have built over many years, and to our dynamic, collegiate and smart-thinking culture in delivering our clients' ambitions.  In an extraordinarily complex environment, we completed 76 transactions, increased total income by over 80% and, importantly, increased our cash to over £20m.

Our stronger results allowed us to accelerate our strategy of expanding our product suite for growth companies in the second half making key sector and origination hires, increasing our capability in our core ECM business and establishing access for clients to new pools of capital.

FY22 has started well and our pipeline of deals expected to complete in H1 is strong.

I would like to express my thanks to our staff for their outstanding work and their profound resilience during the year.  Our collective resolve and ability to adapt to the unusual conditions has underpinned our performance and the Group is in a much stronger financial position to invest in our strategy."

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU No. 596/2014) which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Contacts

finnCap Group plc  Tel: [phone]

Sam Smith, Chief Executive Officer  [e-mail]

Richard Snow, Chief Financial Officer

Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser)  Tel: [phone]

Philip Secrett/Samantha Harrison/George Grainger

Oberon Capital (Joint broker)              Tel: [phone]

Mike Seabrook

finnCap Ltd (Joint Broker)                        Tel: [phone]

Rhys Williams / Tim Redfern

Hudson Sandler (PR adviser)                        Tel: [phone]

Dan de Belder/Rebekah Chapman

Notes to Editors

About finnCap Group

finnCap Group provides strategic advice, capital raising and related services to corporate and institutional clients and high net worth investors including private equity and family offices.  Established in 2007 the Group has built a strong track record in equity advice and fund-raisings, public and private M&A, debt arrangement and advice and act as NOMAD for clients listed on AIM with a particular focus on the technology, life sciences, consumer and business services sectors.

Notes : (1) Adjusted PBT and EPS are calculated excluding share-based payments, amortisation of intangible assets from the acquisition of Cavendish, non-recurring costs, the uplift from the sale of the Group's stake in PrimaryBid Limited in FY21  and includes, for EPS, an adjustment to normalise tax. The weighted average number of shares in issue during the period excludes shares held by the Group's Employee Benefit Trust.

Investor Presentation

Sam Smith CEO and Richard Snow CFO will provide a live presentation relating to these preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2021 via the Investor Meet Company platform on 1st Jul 2021 at 4:30pm BST. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders.

Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet FINNCAP GROUP PLC via:

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/finncap-group-plc/register-investor

Investors who already follow FINNCAP GROUP PLC on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

 

Record Results

In the year ended 31 March 2021, we delivered our best-ever financial results whilst operating in the most complex operating environment since finnCap was founded.  Strong equity market conditions and the impact of COVID-19 on clients - both positive and negative - created extraordinary demand for our services and pressure for our team to deliver.  

In FY21 total income was £47.6m, up 84% on FY20 (£25.9).  Adjusted PBT at £9.6m was 6 times higher than in FY20 (£1.6m).  Cash was c.£20.4m, over four times higher than at the end of the last financial year.

We have also continued our significant and focused investment in the business and are therefore in a strategically stronger position to capture growth opportunities as they arise in the future.

COVID-19 - making remote working work

The COVID-19 pandemic required a rapid response from our team who redeployed the business to their homes and implemented our disaster recovery plans flawlessly.

In line with the wider market, we planned for a severe economic impact and took significant measures to preserve and improve cashflow.  Our actions included cancelling FY20 bonus payments, pausing dividends, a company-wide staff salary reductions in Q1 and making limited use of the UK government's furlough and tax deferral schemes.

Against our initial expectations, activity in the capital markets was extraordinarily good with wide institutional support for fundraisings and IPOs by companies with strong investment cases whether impacted by COVID-19 or not.  We have particularly benefitted from years of strategic investment in research and investment banking capability in the life sciences and technology sectors.

By October 2020, the business had reached a point where it no longer needed to access UK government support schemes and we repaid all outstanding amounts due to the UK Government and returned all furlough support payments.

Market Dynamics

Overall equity issuance on AIM was high with c.£5.3bn raised in the year.  Our market share was c.13% (fundraisings greater than £5m) reflecting our particular strength and historic investment in the technology, life sciences and consumer sectors.

The corporate placings and block trade market was busy and fund managers were highly receptive to:

-  investment in COVID-19 related therapies

-  providing support for companies impacted by COVID-19 UK lock-downs; and

-  providing funds to support strong growth-led investment cases 

Retail investors also returned to the equity markets, providing increased liquidity and a further source of capital.  The increased liquidity and restored valuations also spurred on the IPO market adding new companies and life to AIM.

The M&A market was altogether more volatile with the COVID-19 uncertainty significantly impacting buyer confidence at the start of the year.  However, stronger equity markets and the impact of owners' concerns about potentially adverse changes to capital gains tax created much increased activity towards the year end.

Strong Divisional Performance

finnCap Capital Markets generated £34.5m of revenue up 84% on last year (£18.7m).   Deal fees exceeded £20m for the first time and there was a strong contribution from sales and trading.

Retainers - Total fees from retainers in the period were stable at £6.4m (FY 20: £6.5m) and client numbers declined slightly to 119.  In an environment where winning new clients has been challenging - due to the move to working from home and continuing client loss through delisting and takeover - we considered a broadly stable client count to be a good outcome. 

Transactions - Total fees received from transactions in the period were £21.3m (FY20: £8.6m). 

In the year, finnCap Capital Markets executed 64 transactions, including raising over £720m across 33 equity fundraisings for listed clients and four IPOs.

Notable deals included:

Life sciences: Synairgen (£94m - 2 deals); Avacta (£53m - 2 deals); Evgen Pharma (£11m) Destiny Pharma (£9.5m); and Open Orphan (£12m)

Technology: Argo BlockChain (£26.8m); Ideagen (£48.7m); RedCentric (£38.5m); Sopheon (£10m); Quartix (£28.9m); and Xeros Technology (£14m - 2 deals)

Other key deals: K3 Capital (£30.5m); Revolution Bars (£15m); and Surface Transforms (£19.7m)

IPOs: Dye and Durham - (deal size £100m); Elixxir International (£25m); fonix Mobile (£45m) and Parsley Box (£17m).

PLC M&A: £83m acquisition of Castleton Technology PLC by MRI Software LLC; £79m acquisition of HWSI Realisation Fund Limited by Cubbitt Trade Holdings Limited;  £19m acquisition of HML Holdings PLC by Harwood Capital LLP; the £23m mandatory offer by Waterford Finance & Investment Limited for Gulfsands Petroleum PLC; and the £30m acquisition of IndigoVision Group plc by Motorola Solutions, Inc.

The debt advisory team, which works across both finnCap Capital Markets and finnCap Cavendish, completed 9 mandates raising £124m and billed over £1m for the first time.

Trading - Trading revenues were £6.7m (FY 20: £3.6m).The team provided critical liquidity to our corporate and institutional clients during a volatile trading period and benefited from increased corporate activity across the equity capital markets and the return of substantial retail demand to the AIM market.

In Q122 finnCap Capital Markets has continued to be highly active with equity placings in particular the £60m secondary placing of c.25% of Best of the Best plc in April.  The pipeline looks good with a number of IPOs expected for H2.

finnCap Cavendish experienced an M&A market that was impacted significantly by COVID-19 - initially reducing buyer and seller confidence and the availability of M&A financing.  As capital markets recovered and funding and confidence concerns eased, we saw a significant increase in activity with a rush to complete multiple deals in March 2021 due to the perceived uncertainty around the impact of the UK budget.

finnCap Cavendish generated revenues of £12.1m, up 66% on FY 20 (£7.3m).  In total, it closed 11 private M&A transactions with an aggregate value of over £340m and with a much stronger performance in H2.

Key deals included: the sale of Caselines to Thomson Reuters, the sale of Systal to Inflexion and the sale of a stake in Margaret Dabbs to an Asian Trade investor.

Activity levels remained good in finnCap Cavendish. In Q1 22 we completed three deals in the human capital technology sector where a new sector head was hired in mid FY21, and we strengthened our Consumer team by hiring a new sector head and an M&A focused director.  The deal pipeline is stronger than at this time last year with three deals currently awaiting regulatory approval.

Strategic Development

We continued to invest in our strategy - particularly in the second half, when it became clear that business activity and financial performance would continue to be strong.

We have made selective sector/product hires across:

· Investment Banking: Human Capital Technology, Consumer M&A, UK Technology and UK M&A;

· Consumer Equity Research;

· Family Offices and private growth capital fund-raising; and

· an origination/lead generation function to primarily support our M&A efforts

We also strengthened our equity sales, corporate broking and ECM teams to ensure we have the capacity to service the needs of our client base both now and as we grow.

In Sales and Trading, we established a new team to service a new group of institutional investors.  This team, finnCap Analytics, offers analysis of market trends and events and execution services predominantly around large cap equities.  Activity began in April 2021 and will, over time, grow our secondary commission business and establish relationships with the larger institutions and hedge funds that will be increasingly important to our growing corporate clients.

Our debt advisory business broke the £1m revenue threshold for the first time and its pipeline of business, now sourced from a wide range of situations across PE, M&A team and our ECM clients, is good.

Finally, in September 2020, the Group occupied its new offices at One Bartholomew Close having completed a COVID-19 compliant fit out, successfully co-locating all parts of the Group.  Alongside this co-location, in order to further align our team, substantially all Cavendish partners moved across to the Group's discretionary bonus plan - giving up the deal specific bonus arrangements historically used in Cavendish with an accompanying normalisation of salaries.  This is an important change encouraging team behaviour and the best client service.

Whilst we have endured another UK lockdown since our move, during the period that we could work together we have seen clear signs of the synergies obtainable from all parts of our business being in the same environment.  The move has allowed staff to co-operate and find the best solutions for clients - a key factor that underpinned our decision to find new offices that would enable us both to co-locate and also provide space for future headcount growth.

In late 2020 we began to review potential M&A opportunities including business services sectors and specific companies that might form part of a third leg of the finnCap group, so expanding our business potentially beyond its core financial services offering.

Administrative expenses and FY22 costs expectations

Administrative costs increased by 53% over FY20 reflecting a substantially higher discretionary bonus accrual arising from the Group's strong financial performance.  Despite higher discretionary pay, staff costs as a percentage of revenue decreased to 60% from 62% last year, and remains in line or below our peer group.

Non-employee costs per staff member - a key efficiency measure - have increased by £10k to £70k. This increase is caused by a significant introductory fee paid to a third-party in connection with an M&A transaction in H1; higher sales trading transaction costs; and an increase in property costs, following our office move.  Other cost increases were partly offset by reduced travel and marketing spend during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Looking forward to FY22, we expect our staff compensation to revenue ratio (excluding equity-based compensation) to remain in the 58-62% range.  Non-employee costs are expected to remain broadly stable at c.£10m.  Although our non-employee costs have risen on an underlying basis - reflecting our investment in the IT and related trading expenses for finnCap Analytics and the higher cost of our new offices which provides substantial space for our future growth - in FY21 we incurred the significant third-party introductory fee, referred to above, and a higher holiday pay accrual which is not expected to recur in FY22.

Non-recurring items

In September, the Group occupied its new offices at One Bartholomew Close having completed a COVID-19 compliant fit out.  We have treated the new lease and related costs of c.£0.8m (being interest and depreciation under IFRS 16), for the overlap period until occupation in August, as a non-recurring item.  In addition, the Group incurred £0.1m of moving costs and c.£0.1m of redundancy settlements.  There were no non-recurring items in H2 21.

Capital and liquidity

The Group's cash position improved substantially to £20.4m from £4.7m at 31 March 2020 as a result of the strong revenue performance and careful cost control.  The significant working capital inflow is substantially driven by the payment to employees and related payroll taxes for the FY21 discretionary bonus after the year end.

Cash is stated before the balance of the £1.55m fit-out loan which will be repaid over the next 5 years.  The capital expenditure on fit-out was c.£1.9m has been capitalised and will be substantially written off over the life of the 10 years lease.  Dilapidations/make-good payments for the Group's previous properties were from a profit perspective almost entirely covered by historic provisions.

In October, the Group accepted a cash offer for 70% of its holding in PrimaryBid Limited.  In April 2021, after the year end, we received £708k in cash.  The profit from this sale and the increased value of our remaining stake are recorded within other income as a mark-to-market adjustment.

In December we made a £150k investment, as part of a larger fundraising, in WorldWideGeneration Limited ("WWG") to support this innovative ESG Governance software start-up as it moves from its build to commercialising phase.

A stronger liquidity position and the longer-term financing of our office move means that the Group is better able to withstand challenging operating conditions, to support dividend payments to shareholders as we grow profits and also positions us to make further strategic investment over time.

Operating Responsibly

finnCap has always focused on operating responsibly and engaging actively with its key stakeholders and the wider community, in particular around youth entrepreneurship. 

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are finally becoming mainstream and of clear relevance to providers of capital, customers and colleagues alike.

We were pleased to invest in WWG, a leading ESG Governance software provider and also entered into a commercial partnership to assist in growing its client base by offering its service to our clients on a one-year free trial basis.  We also use this product and its benchmark scores for finnCap are set out in the section of this report called Operating responsibly - our approach to ESG.

Together with our partnership with WWG we continued to show leadership in the governance and measurement around ESG with the creation of our own finnCap ESG Scorecard to give small cap clients the ability to take their first formal steps around ESG reporting. 

We have also hosted client education events around ESG, targeting NEDs and executives and investors focused on ESG reporting.

During FY21 we introduced a Volunteer Day programme which allows employees to donate two days each year of their time to a chosen charity or good cause without loss of pay.

After the year end, in May we entered into a partnership with YourGamePlan to create free online training focused on entrepreneurship, and a UK wide initiative to discover some of the UK's brightest young entrepreneurial talent. The first initiative, Your Side Hustle is open to 14-18 year olds who already have a side hustle (part time job) or an amazing business idea with a £10,000 prize fund for the winners to help grow their business.

Rewarding Shareholders

The Board recognises the importance of income to its shareholders and appreciated the support it received from shareholders for its cancellation of the final dividend for FY 20.  This, in conjunction with the comparable contribution made by employees  from the cancellation of the FY20 discretionary bonus plan, and the benefit of staff-wide salary cuts in Q1, substantially improved our financial position as we entered the pandemic.

Given the strong financial performance in FY21 and the improved balance sheet position of the Group, the Directors intend to pay a second interim dividend of 1.0p per share bringing a total dividend for FY21 to 1.5p ahead of  our commitment at the time of our IPO.

Using a second interim dividend allows the Board to make a dividend payment ahead of the AGM in September and to spread dividends more evenly across the financial year.  There will, accordingly, be no further dividend paid in respect of FY21.

Dividend payment dates will be announced later this month.

Q1 Trading and Outlook

The financial year has started well with revenue ahead of last year. Our ECM division has continued to raise equity and execute block trades for clients and, alongside this, we have exchanged on several private M&A transaction which are subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in H1.  Sales and trading activity has been good and was supported by the first contributions from the finnCap Analytics team which commenced activity in April.

Cash at 29 June was £17.2m reflecting the payment of staff discretionary bonuses post year end offset by the continued strong trading performance and receipt of funds from the sale of 70% of our stake in Primary Bid plc.

Although it is still early in the year, our pipeline of business is good, including several potential IPOs and M&A deals.  Our results will be influenced by the market's continuing receptiveness to new equity issuance and IPOs, however, we currently look set to have another strong performance in FY22 and expect revenue for FY22 to be in the £40-£50m range.

In recognition of the significant progress the group has made to drive growth from its strategy, and our strong capital and cash position, in the absence of unforeseen circumstances, the Board has committed to declare aggregate dividends of at least 1.6p per share for FY22 given the significantly strengthened balance sheet and in line with our intention to hold minimum cash reserves (post liabilities) of at least £10m.

Sam Smith

Chief Executive Officer

1 July 2021

 

Financial Statements

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

		Year ended		Year ended
		31 March 2021		31 March 2020
		(unaudited)		(audited)
		£'000		£'000
Revenue		46,629		26,006
Other operating income		926		(115)
Total income		47,555		25,891
Administrative expenses		(37,628)		(24,522)
Operating profit before non-recurring items		9,927		1,369
Non-recurring items		(1,047)		(188)
Operating profit		8,880		1,181
Finance income		16		26
Finance charge		(519)		(24)
Profit before taxation		8,377		1,183
Taxation		(1,346)		(411)
Profit attributable to equity shareholders		7,031		772
Total comprehensive income for the year		7,031		772
Earnings per share (pence)
Basic		4.41		0.49
Diluted		4.24		0.46

There are no items of other comprehensive income.

All results derive from continuing operations.

 

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

		31 March 2021		31 March 2020
		(unaudited)		(audited)
		£'000		£'000
Non-current assets
Property, plant, and equipment		14,589		635
Intangible assets		13,413		13,533
Financial assets held at fair value		1,685		393
Deferred tax asset		888		171
Total non-current assets		30,575		14,732
Current assets
Trade and other receivables		7,782		9,037
Current assets held at fair value		-		431
Cash and cash equivalents		20,434		4,695
Total current assets		28,216		14,163
Total assets		58,791		28,895
Non-current liabilities
Trade and other payables		12,548		-
Borrowings		1,207		-
Provisions		95		40
Total Non-current liabilities		13,850		40
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables		15,478		8,469
Current liabilities held at fair value		72		-
Corporation taxation		748		64
Borrowings		343		-
Total current liabilities		16,641		8,533
Equity
Share capital		1,737		1,697
Share premium		956		616
Own shares held		(1,726)		(1,636)
Merger relief reserve		10,482		10,482
Share based payments reserve		1,132		388
Retained earnings		15,719		8,775
Total equity		28,300		20,322
Total equity and liabilities		58,791		28,895

 

Consolidated Statement of Cashflows

		Year ended		Year ended
		31 March 2021		31 March 2020
		(unaudited)		(audited)
		£'000		£'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before taxation		8,377		1,183
Adjustments for:
Depreciation		1,957		948
Amortisation of intangible assets		120		79
Finance income		(16)		(26)
Finance charge		519		-
Share based payments charge		744		110
Net fair value (gain)/loss recognised in profit or loss		(926)		115
Payments received for non-cash assets		(237)		(275)
		10,538		2,134
Working capital movements:
Change in trade and other receivables		1,255		(495)
Change in trade and other payables		6,050		173
Change in provisions		55		(23)
Cash generated from operations		17,898		1,789
Net receipts for current asset held at fair value		503		680
Tax paid		(662)		(845)
Net cashflow generated from operating activities		17,739		1,624
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(2,042)		(262)
Purchase of intangible assets		-		(9)
Proceeds on sale of investments		20		508
Interest received		16		26
Net cashflow generated from investing activities		(2,006)		263
Equity dividends paid		(804)		(1,218)
Proceeds from exercise of options		380		50
Purchase of own shares		(90)		-
Interest paid		(46)		-
Lease liability payments		(984)		(683)
Proceeds from borrowings		1,550		- -
Net cashflow generated from financing activities		6		(1,851)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents		15,739		36
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year		4,695		4,659
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year		20,434		4,695

 

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

			Share capital	Share premium	Own shares held	Merger relief reserve	Share based payments reserve	Retained earnings	Total Equity
			£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
31 March 2019			1,688	575	(1,636)	10,482	292	9,534	20,935
Total comprehensive income for the period			-	-	-	-	-	772	772
Transactions with owners:
Share-based payments charge			-	-	-	-	110	-	110
Implementation of IFRS16			-	-	-	-	-	(70)	(70)
Deferred tax on share-based payments			-	-	-	-	-	(257)	(257)
Dividends			-	-	-	-	-	(1,218)	(1,218)
Share options exercised			9	41	-	-	(14)	14	50
			9	41	-	-	96	(1,531)	(1,385)
31 March 2020			1,697	616	(1,636)	10,482	388	8,775	20,322
Total comprehensive income for the period (unaudited)			-	-	-	-	-	7,031	7,031
Transactions with owners:
Share based payments charge (unaudited)			-	-	-	-	744	-	744
Deferred tax on share-based payments (unaudited)			-	-	-	-	-	717	717
Purchase of own shares (unaudited)			-	-	(90)	-	-	-	(90)
Dividends (unaudited)			-	-	-	-	-	(804)	(804)
Share options exercised (unaudited)			40	340	-	-	-	-	380
			40	340	-	-	819	(87)	947
31 March 2021 (unaudited)			1,737	956	(1,726)	10,482	1,132	15,719	28,300

 

 

Notes to the consolidated financial statements

1. Accounting policies

a. Basis of preparation

These consolidated Financial Statements contain information about the Group and have been prepared on a historical cost basis except for certain Financial Instruments which are carried at fair value. Amounts are rounded to the nearest thousand, unless otherwise stated and are presented in pounds sterling, which is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the Group operates.

These consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards, in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and those parts of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards.

The preparation of Financial Statements in compliance with adopted IFRS requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires Group management to exercise judgement in applying the Group's accounting policies.

The consolidated financial information contained within these financial statements is unaudited and does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.  The annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 is expected to be filed with the Registrar of Companies and posted to Shareholders in July.  Further copies will be available from the Company Secretary at the Company's registered office and on the Company's web-site www.finncap.com.

b. Basis of consolidation

The Group's consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of the Company and all its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are entities over which the Group has control if all three of the following elements are present: power over the investee, exposure to variable returns from the investee and the ability of the investor to use its power to affect those variable returns. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on which control is established and de-consolidated on the date that control ceases.

The acquisition method of accounting is used for the acquisition of subsidiaries. Transactions and balances between members of the Group are eliminated on consolidation and consistent accounting policies are used throughout the Group for the purposes of consolidation.

c. Going concern

The Group's business activities, together with the factors likely to affect its future development, performance and position are set out in the Chairman's Statement. The Strategic Report and Directors' Report describe the financial position of the Group; the Group's objectives, policies and processes for managing its capital; its financial risk management objectives; and its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk.

The Directors believe that the company has adequate resources to continue trading for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Annual Report and Accounts.

2. Dividends

		Year ended		Year ended
		31 March 2021		31 March 2020
			£'000		£'000
Dividends proposed and paid during the year			804		1,218
Dividends per share			0.50p		0.78p

Dividends are declared at the discretion of the Board.

3. Post balance sheet events

In April 2021, the Group received £708k in cash from the part sale of its holding in PrimaryBid Limited.

4. Market abuse regulation (MAR) disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed to be inside information for the purposes of article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement. 

5. Website publication

The full financial statements are included in our annual report, which will be published on the Company's website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of Financial Statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions.

 

END

 

 

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