Trading Update and Notice of Results

RNS Number : 4999M

Empresaria Group PLC

21 January 2016

 

21 January 2016

Empresaria Group plc

("Empresaria" or the "Group")

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Empresaria (AIM: EMR), the international specialist staffing group, today announces a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2015, ahead of announcing its final results on Wednesday 2 March 2016.

The Board is pleased to advise that full year profitability will be ahead of market expectations, despite the impact of adverse currency headwinds, primarily with the Euro. The Board expects adjusted profit before tax growth of approximately 23% year on year, with net fee income approximately 10% ahead of the prior year.  Total net debt is expected to reduce by 26% from £9.8m in 2014 to £7.3m in 2015, which includes the term loan, as announced in October 2015, to help fund the acquisition of Pharmaceutical Strategies in the USA.

Joost Kreulen, Chief Executive of Empresaria, said:

"The Group continues to deliver on its strategy: strengthening a multi-branded group with a focus on developing leading brands that are diversified and balanced by geography and sector.    

During the year we have invested in new staff, launched a second brand in the Middle East and successfully developed the new office openings and investments made in 2014. We have also continued our strategy of devolving low margin industrial contracts.

There were notable positive performances in Australia, Thailand and in some sectors in the UK. We are particularly pleased with our performance in Germany and India during the year, with our Offshore Recruitment Services business in India significantly increasing profits against the prior year and opening a third centre ahead of original plans, due to increased demand, with good possibilities for further growth in the year ahead.

In October we acquired Pharmaceutical Strategies, a healthcare agency operating in the USA and are pleased with how quickly it has integrated into the Group.  This investment has also taken the Group into a new region and helped strengthen our presence in the healthcare sector, although given the timing of the acquisition in Q4 2015, we will see the vast majority of the profit impact in 2016. We continue to investigate further investment opportunities to enhance our existing regional and sector coverage and so help accelerate the growth of the business.

We see exciting growth opportunities for the Group and are confident in our ability to deliver profitable growth."

Enquiries:

Empresaria Group plc Joost Kreulen, Chief Executive Officer Spencer Wreford, Group Finance Director	via Redleaf
Arden Partners (Nominated Adviser and Broker) John Llewellyn-Lloyd / Steve Douglas / Ciaran Walsh	020 7614 5900
Redleaf Communications (Financial PR) Rebecca Sanders Hewett / Sarah Fabietti / Harriet Lynch	020 7382 4730 [e-mail]

Notes for editors:

§ Empresaria Group plc is an international specialist staffing group with 19 brands operating in 18 countries across the globe including UK, Germany, Japan, India, UAE, Indonesia, Chile, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Finland, USA and the Philippines.

§ The Group offers Temporary and Permanent staffing solutions as well as Offshore Recruitment Services in six key sectors including Technical & Industrial, IT Digital & Design, Financial, Healthcare and Retail.

§ Empresaria applies a multi brand, management equity philosophy and business model, with Group company management teams holding significant equity in their own business.

§ The Group is listed on AIM under ticker EMR. For more information: http://www.empresaria.com/

 

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