Tribal Group PLC
14 September 2004
For immediate release
14 September 2004
Tribal Group plc 2004 AGM statement
At the Annual General Meeting of Tribal Group plc ('Tribal' or the 'Group') held
at 9.30am today, Tribal provided the following update:
'Trading in the first five months of the financial year has been broadly in line
with expectations given our continuing investment in infrastructure and building
capacity. This, combined with the increased seasonality of our business, will
result in a greater weighting of profits to the second half of the year. The
structural changes and investments we have made should enhance performance in
the second half and will help us to develop a very robust platform for the
future development of the Group.
The Group continues to make progress on a number of fronts. The main emphasis
remains the continuing integration of acquisitions and the strengthening of the
Group's divisional structure together with delivering further organic growth.
Consulting and education David Chevins has been appointed divisional chief
executive of this division with David Tolson, Nigel Draper and John Simpson as
managing directors of local government and housing, health and social care, and
education respectively. Since the start of the calendar year we have continued
to build capacity with many individuals and teams joining the business. For
example an economic consultancy team of ten has joined us in Scotland, further
strengthening HACAS our housing consultancy and 20 consultants have joined our
new central government supply chain consultancy. We have extended our regional
network to seven hub offices by adding Edinburgh and Nottingham.
We are now the largest consultancy focused on delivering services into the
public sector. Our consultancy markets generally remain buoyant, average fee
rates are firm and utilisation is at over 70%.
In education we have made good progress: our service to combat pupil
underachievement is now employing over 100 consultants working in 16 local
authorities; and our three year strategic management contract with Swindon LEA
has moved the education service from an Ofsted level 7 to 4 in one year. Our
teacher training businesses are still experiencing very difficult market
conditions. We do not expect this situation to improve in the short term and
have therefore merged and rationalised our two training businesses in one
location, which should result in over £600,000 of annualised savings. Our
distance learning and e-learning businesses continue to perform very well.
We have won a number of new contracts, which have usually involved different
parts of the Group working together, for example five new contracts with the
Adult Basic Strategy Unit worth over £4 million during the next two years.
Technology: We are now well advanced with the integration of our information
and IT businesses. Jim Chambers has been appointed as divisional chief executive
and managing directors are in place in each of the profit centres. Market
conditions remain encouraging with continuing high levels of activity. Our
educational software business is performing well and has been further
strengthened by the recent acquisition of Aldcliffe. We have now formalised our
off-shoring partner arrangements in India, which will provide an increasing
contribution to our programming requirements. The performance of our asset
management business continues to be disappointing, however we are well advanced
with the restructuring which will result in annualised savings of over £500,000.
Overall we remain optimistic about the performance of this division.
Resourcing: The integration of this division has now been completed and Julie
Towers has been appointed divisional chief executive. The business continues to
develop well, with capacity being increased through the recruitment of
individuals and teams, and the continuing development of the regional offices.
We have opened new offices in Bristol and Bury St Edmunds. We have also launched
our online recruitment offering and started a new interim management business to
service the local government and housing market. Overall the market for
recruitment advertising is holding up well, albeit with some weakness seen in
the health sector. We have won a number of new accounts including a £1m contract
with Westminster Council which will be an excellent reference for other London
boroughs. The executive search business is growing market share and the market
in local government and housing is reasonably strong. There is however
increasing competition and some pressure on fee rates. Our health supply
business is growing well and is improving margins; it has recently opened a new
office in Manchester.
Property: Our property businesses in education and health have had a good start
to the financial year with high levels of activity. In education, we have a
record order book and our strategy of developing regional offices is proving
successful. In health, we have now opened new offices in Exeter and our first
overseas office in Cape Town. By off-shoring to South Africa we expect to be
able to increase capacity, improve quality consistency and reduce our cost
structure. The pipeline of opportunities is very promising.
Communications: Our communications business, which is now a top ten PR company
and one of the largest that specialises in the public sector, has had a good
start to the year. In education, we have a very high level of committed revenue
and many excellent prospects, and in local government and health we are making
good progress.
Healthcare delivery - Mercury Health: Further progress has been made in
negotiations over the summer, concerning inter alia the transfer of staff issue,
which has delayed the procurement timetable. A further announcement will be made
when appropriate. The market for ISTCs continues to develop and further
significant procurement initiatives are expected in the next six months.'
For further information please contact:
Tribal Group plc - 01285 886020
Henry Pitman, Chief Executive
Simon Lawton, Group Finance Director
The Maitland Consultancy - 020 7379 5151
Colin Browne
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