Trading Update

RNS Number : 1787L

Personal Group Holdings PLC

17 July 2017

 

Press Release                                                                                                                                           17 July 2017

Personal Group Holding PLC

(the "Company", "Personal Group", "PGH" or "Group")

Trading Update

Personal Group PLC, a leading provider of employee services in the UK, provides the following trading update post the half-year end on 30 June 2017.

The performance of the Group during the first half of the year was in line with management expectations. The core insurance business continued to deliver solid results, driven by the performance of the sales team, which saw an increase in its daily productivity in the period. Let's Connect also had an encouraging start to the year, partly due to clients taking advantage of expiring tax exemptions on mobile phone products.  

With the ratification of the Finance Bill in April this year, the HMRC treatment for Salary Sacrifice Technology is now certified and much simpler. Any uncertainties around tax treatment of the product offer have also now been clarified. The systems and product offerings have been adjusted to reflect these changes ahead of second half trading. Customers have welcomed this new operating environment, which has given them the comfort they needed to support the offer to their employees. 

The Company's partnership with Sage to deliver Sage Employee Benefits ("SEB") to their extensive SME customer base continues to make good progress. The strategy has now been expanded to embed  a version of SEB, which doesn't have the insurance products, into a standard payroll 'bundled' product. This additional initiative is a 'land and expand' strategy, where every 'bundle' has a portion of SEB licences included. The approach supports the upsell of additional licences to cover all employees.

In line with the Company's commitment to improve its overall client offer, by introducing select third party services into the product range, Personal Group added a financial wellbeing product during the period. The product is aimed at helping client employees manage their day-to-day finances, through affordable loans, financial education and savings products. Personal Group has partnered with Neyber and SalaryFinance to provide these offers.

Mark Scanlon, Chief Executive of Personal Group, commented:

"We're pleased with the progress the Company has made during the first half, in what has been a solid start to the year. The core insurance product has continued to underpin our business and we are seeing our Salary Sacrifice Technology income line regain momentum, with the uncertainties that division suffered from last year now behind it. The opportunity to develop our offer into the SME market through Sage continues to progress, with the SEB product now embedded into the Sage product. This approach reflects the strategic importance of SEB to Sage and its continued commitment to what is an innovative product for them. The Company is well positioned to continue its growth and we are confident about making further progress in 2017."

-ENDS-

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

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

For more information please contact:

Personal Group Holdings Plc
Mark Scanlon / Mike Dugdale	[phone]
Philip Dennis (Investor Relations)	[phone]
Cenkos Securities Plc
Max Hartley / Stephen Keys (Nomad)	[phone]
Russell Kerr (Sales)
Hudson Sandler
Nick Lyon / Sophie Lister / Lucy Wollam	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

Personal Group Holdings Plc (AIM: PGH) is a technology enabled employee services business, working with employers to drive productivity though better employee engagement and a more motivated workforce. With over 30 years' experience, the Company provides employee benefits, serving 550 businesses, reaching over 2 million employees across the UK.

Personal Group's offer comprises 8,000 in-house and third party products and services, from c.60 supply lines. In-house services include employee insurance products (hospital, convalescence plans and death benefit) and the provision of home technology via salary sacrifice (iPads, computers, laptops, smart phones and smart TVs). Third party services include retail discounts, e-payslips, employee assistance, wellbeing programmes and salary sacrifice cars and bikes.

The offer is provided via the Company's proprietary technology platform, Hapi. The platform is intuitive and accessible via web, tablet and mobile app, driving better engagement, communication and value recognition. Hapi is flexible and can quickly integrate additional services, such as existing employee services and partner platforms. Hapi is a SaaS product.

Through technology and select acquisitions, the Company has grown its addressable market from 6m to 27m UK employees; including 15.6m SME employees targeted via its partnership with Sage, the UK's largest software company.  

Personal Group's innovative approach to using technology to deliver its programmes, combined with its face-to-face method of communicating with employees, makes its offer compelling to blue chip clients across the UK as a way of attracting, retaining and motivating employees. 

Personal Group has a strong client base across a range of sectors including passenger transport, healthcare, logistics and food manufacturing. Clients include: Stagecoach, Four Seasons Health Care, Priory Group, Spire Healthcare, Bibby, 2 Sisters Food Group and Young's Seafood.   

For further information, please see www.personalgroup.com

 

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