Pre-Close Trading Update

RNS Number : 7409F

NAHL Group PLC

20 July 2021

 

20 July 2021

NAHL Group PLC

("NAHL" or the "Group")

Pre-Close Trading Update

NAHL (AIM: NAH), a leader in the UK consumer legal services market,   is today providing a trading update for the first half of its current financial year, covering the six months to 30 June 2021.

Trading performance

Revenue for the period is expected to be £19.6m, approximately 3% lower than the comparative period of the prior year (2020 H1: £20.2m), however, reported profit before tax is expected to be higher, at £0.6m (2020 H1*: loss of £0.4m).  The Group has made further progress in reducing net debt, which was £14.9m at 30 June 2021, compared to £16.3m at 31 December 2020 (31 May 2021: £16.0m).

As noted in the Annual Results on 25 May 2021, the third national lockdown that began on 5 January 2021 caused another reduction in the number of accidents. As a result, the Consumer Legal Services division saw personal injury enquiry volumes contract in Q1, but then rebound in Q2 as lockdown restrictions were eased. The Group's Critical Care division was less immediately affected by the further lockdowns, and experienced an increase in the number of case management instructions and expert witness reports when compared to the same period last year.

Whilst encouraged by both businesses experiencing improving trends in volumes, the Board remains cautious about the rising levels of COVID-19 infections and the impact of any additional restrictions imposed as a result. 

Strategic initiatives

The Group has made good progress with its strategic initiatives during the first half of the year. 

Within the Consumer Legal Services division, performance of its personal injury small claims proposition launched on 31 May 2021 has been pleasing, and since then, National Accident Law (NAL) has processed all RTA enquiries in-house. From 1 July, as planned, NAL has begun to increase the volume of non-RTA claims it processes. This should ensure a higher return from those claims.

The Critical Care division began the roll-out of its new proprietary digital medico-legal report writing tool for Expert Witness work during H1, and management expect to see consequential efficiency benefits start to come through later this year.  The business has also made progress with its plans to expand its market share and launch a new case management proposition for claims with a value of £100,000 to £500,000.

Since the Group announced that it intended to investigate a possible sale of its Residential Property business in May 2021, the Board has been encouraged by the level of interest received.  A further update will be made when appropriate.

Interim results

NAHL will announce its results for the six months ended 30 June 2021 on 28 September 2021.

* Loss before tax for H1 2020 is net of £0.8m of exceptional costs.  It has also been restated to reflect several changes in accounting treatment and presentation.  See note 30 in the financial statements for the year-ended 31 December 2020 for details.

For further information please call:

NAHL Group PLC Tim Aspinall (Chair) James Saralis (CFO)	via FTI Consulting Tel: [phone]
Peel Hunt (NOMAD & Broker) Ed Allsopp Miles Cox Rishi Shah	Tel: +44 (0 )  207 220 0500
FTI Consulting (Financial PR) Alex Beagley James Styles Sam Macpherson	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

NAHL Group plc (AIM: NAH) is a leader in the Consumer Legal Services (CLS) market. The Group provides services and products to individuals and businesses in the CLS market through its two divisions:

·   Consumer Legal Services  provides outsourced marketing services to law firms through National Accident Helpline and Homeward Legal; and claims processing and conveyancing services to individuals through Your Law, Law Together and National Accident Law.  In addition, it also provides property searches through Searches UK.

·   Critical Care  provides a range of specialist services in the catastrophic and serious injury market to both claimants and defendants through Bush & Co.

More information is available at  www.nahlgroupplc.co.uk ,  www.national-accident-helpline.co.uk and www.bushco.co.uk .

 

 

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