AGM Statement

RNS Number : 2031B

Christie Group PLC

15 June 2016

 

15 June 2016

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

AGM Statement

Christie Group plc (CTG.L), the leading provider of Professional Business Services and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services to the leisure, retail and care markets, announces that at today's Annual General Meeting, the Chairman, Philip Gwyn, issued the following statement:

"As I recorded in my statement in April at the release of our 2016 results, 2016 started quietly, but gathered pace in spring.  Whilst progress has continued, we expect to record a first half loss.  Thereafter, we reasonably anticipate a post-EU referendum  acceleration of billable activity resulting in full year profitability.

Stock & Inventory Systems & Services

Orridge, our retail stocktaking business, has now largely completed its UK fee negotiations, following the introduction of the Living Wage.  Fees have increased and, coupled with changes in working practices, should enable this activity to trade profitably over the next year.  Our pharmacy stocktaking and delivery check work continue as profitable activities.  Client wins included Poundworld in the UK and Pandora in Germany. 

Our hospitality stocktaking business, Venners, enjoyed growth through greater local business penetration aided by the appointment of additional area managers.  New wins included Batemans and Cau Group.

At Vennersys, our visitor attraction systems provider, we launched releases including airline-style pricing to enable our clients to react to forward demand, travel trade support to facilitate re-selling of tickets by approved partners and worked closely with Tesco Clubcard to enable Clubcard attractions to issue admission tickets electronically.  This increases our online revenue.  New attractions signed include Strawberry Hill and Bristol Museum.

Professional Business Services

Following the launch earlier this year of our new christie.com web portal, we have added 4 new international websites to cover France, Spain, Germany and Austria.  Our international operations have enjoyed improving markets, as instanced by the sale of the Novotel Nice and two Falkensteiner hotels in Austria. 

We have just been instructed to bring to market a significant mixed-use development in Germany. The assets will represent one of the largest single site, mixed-use opportunities available this year in Germany for hospitality and leisure buyers. Elsewhere, our growing presence in the Medical sector was demonstrated as we advised on the sale of a group of pharmacies for Medi-Pharmacy to Brittania among a number of similar instructions.

In the UK, the pre-EU referendum build-up of transactional deals in our pipeline across our business sectors, whilst currently depressing revenue, implies that prospects for the year as a whole remain positive.  We anticipate that our second half revenues will increase significantly over our first half run rate as this pipeline crystallises on either current or renegotiated terms.

Our FCA Regulated Commercial Finance brokerage, Christie Finance, reports an increase at this stage in excess of a third in the total value of funding secured for clients.  Our average loan size is up by 14% on that achieved in the last corresponding period. 

Christie Insurance continues to arrange both life and general insurance for our transactional clients and the breadth of its ability to arrange a broad range of cover for clients was highlighted by the advice it provided to one international hotel chain in relation to their terrorism cover earlier this year .

Our business appraisal practice, Pinders, gained new panel appointments to Wesleyan Bank and Atom Bank.  In addition to their business appraisal services, Pinders' project management team has continued involvement in overseeing the long term refurbishment of 120,000 square feet of head office space for one client, while their consultancy team are benefitting from an increased volume of dispute resolution assignments.

Conclusion

In summary, our pipeline of transactions and current preparations for assignments across the Group leads us to expect growing revenues for our second half and a profitable and rewarding year for shareholders."

Enquiries:

Christie Group plc

David Rugg                                                                                                                                           020 7227 0707

Chief Executive

Dan Prickett                                                                                                                                        020 7227 0700

Chief Financial Officer

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited:

Dominic Morley / Charles Leigh-Pemberton                                                                        020 7886 2906

Nominated Adviser & Broker

Notes to Editors:

Christie Group plc, quoted on AIM, is a leading professional business services group with 46 offices across the UK, Europe and Canada, catering to its specialist markets in the leisure, retail and care sectors.

Christie Group operates in two complementary business divisions: Professional Business Services (PBS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS). These divisions trade under the brand names: PBS - Christie + Co, Pinders, Christie Finance and Christie Insurance: SISS - Orridge, Venners and Vennersys.

Tracing its origins back to 1846, the Group has a long established reputation for offering essential services to client companies in agency, valuation services, investment, consultancy, project management, multi-functional trading systems and online ticketing services, stock audit and inventory management. The diversity of these services provides a natural balance to the Group's core agency business.

For more information, please go to www.christiegroup.com.

 

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