Interim Results

Evolution Group PLC 17 September 2002 17 September 2002 The Evolution Group Plc ("Evolution Group" or the "Group") Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2002 Evolution Group, the AIM listed investment bank and retail fund management group, today announces its results for the six months ended 30 June 2002. The interim results attached do not take into account the recent merger with Beeson Gregory Group Plc which was completed on 11 July 2002. Financial highlights • Group turnover increased by 43% to £5.117m (2001: £3.586m) • Gross profit increased by 42% to £4.232m (2001: £2.981m) • Administrative expenses reduced by 11% to £6.249m (2001: £7.043m) • Operating loss before provisions against fixed asset investments reduced by 35% to £2.012m (2001: £3.105m) Operational highlights • First half performance demonstrates important operational progress • Investment banking division continued its planned expansion with institutional sales showing month on month growth in number of clients and commission income • Christows was profitable in each month in the period • The investment in Inter-Alliance continues to add significant value • The Group merged with Beeson Gregory Group Plc on 11 July 2002 and the two investment banking businesses have now been integrated well ahead of schedule and rebranded as Evolution Beeson Gregory Alex Snow, Chief Executive Officer of Evolution Group commented: "The Evolution Group has developed significantly over the course of 2002. The executive management team believes that the cost base appropriately reflects the stage of the market cycle. The current performance of all our subsidiaries, combined with the strength of the Group's balance sheet, gives your Board increasing confidence for the second half of the year." For further information please contact: The Evolution Group Plc 020 7488 4040 Alex Snow, Chief Executive Officer Graeme Dell, Finance Director Hogarth Partnership Limited 020 7357 9477 Andrew Jaques / Georgina Briscoe Notes to Editors On 11 July 2002, the Evolution Group Plc announced that its merger with Beeson Gregory Group Plc had been declared unconditional in all respects. Evolution Group operates investment banking, retail stockbroking & fund management, Intellectual Property exploitation & commercialisation and private equity divisions; a brief description of each is provided below: Investment Banking Evolution Beeson Gregory incorporates Evolution Capital's institutional sales, trading and research functions and Beeson Gregory's established investment banking business comprising corporate finance, sales, market making and research activities. Retail Stockbroking and Fund Management Evolution Group undertakes retail stockbroking and fund management activities within its Christows brand. It has approximately £370 million of funds under management, over 3,800 discretionary client accounts and a strategy to develop a more focused product offering, increasing geographic coverage and improving the annuitised revenue stream. IP2IPO Evolution Group is committed to IP2IPO and its strategy of exploiting Intellectual Property created by academic institutions. The Evolution Group will control approximately 85 per cent. of the issued share capital of IP2IPO and will seek to establish further university partnerships. The objective will be to generate shareholder value through the acquisition of significant equity stakes in technology businesses created from university-owned IP or through licence and royalty revenues from these sources. Private Equity Evolution Group and Beeson Gregory have merged their private equity portfolios and are seeking to drive active value creation through exits. The Group will continue with its stated strategy of ceasing to make new principal private equity investments. Evolution Beeson Gregory intends to develop a significant private equity activity, based around the Group's core expertise through the creation of a new fund and the provision of private equity advisory services. The Enlarged Group is listed on AIM with a current market capitalisation of approximately £90 million. For further information on the Evolution Group Plc please go to www.evolution-group.com. CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT Key financial information 6 months to 6 months to % change 30 June 2002 30 June 2001 £'000 £'000 Group Turnover 5,117 3,586 43% increase Gross Profit 4,232 2,981 42% increase Administrative expenses 6,249 7,043 11% reduction Operating loss before provisions against fixed asset (2,012) (3,105) 35% reduction investments Review of the half year ended 30 June 2002 Investment Banking The Evolution Group Plc's (the "Group") emerging investment banking business, Evolution Capital, has continued its planned growth during the first half. At its core is a rigorous research approach which has been very well recognised and received by our clients. The institutional sales business showed considerable month on month growth throughout the period measured both in number of clients and commission income. The research coverage was extended to cover a broader range of sectors. The overall loss reported in the interim results is primarily a result of the start-up costs associated with the building of Evolution Capital. Private Client Stockbroking & Fund Management Following on from the annual report, I am pleased to report that Christows, the Group's private client stockbroking and fund management business has continued to win new mandates and introduce new funds under management. Within Christows' range of products, the Private Portfolio Account product continues to prove extremely popular with the Independent Financial Adviser ("IFA") market, and our IFA sales team reported new sales for the half year up 34% on the same period last year. After a year of restructuring the funds, and a concentration on products paying fees based upon value of funds under management, Christows now has 75% of its total assets yielding fees in this manner. Within this category 84% of these funds are managed upon a fully discretionary basis. These revenue items, coupled with tight management of costs, have produced a profit in each month of the first half, which was an extremely encouraging result given the difficult market conditions. Investment in Inter-Alliance During the first half of the year, the Group has made a significant strategic investment in Inter-Alliance Group Plc ("IAL"). Following the successful refinancing in April 2002, IAL has continued to make strong progress, under Keith Carby the newly installed Chairman and CEO. This was demonstrated when IAL acquired the IFA business of HST Financial Plc, confirming its status as the UK's largest IFA. At the same time IAL raised £10 million of new capital from CGNU and Friends Provident, significantly strengthening its balance sheet. The total cash investment in IAL by the Group, before the costs of the transaction, was £9.6 million (representing 18.45 million shares). Your Board remains confident that this strategic investment adds significant value to the Group. Investment Provisions The worsening market sentiment toward private equity valuation has led us to examine the valuations on our remaining legacy portfolio. Upon this basis the Board has decided that it is prudent to take a further provision of £2.0 million against the private equity portfolio leaving a balance sheet value for the private equity portfolio of £3.9 million. Merger with Beeson Gregory Group Plc ("BGG") Timing and terms: Following the initial announcement of the proposed deal on 30 May 2002 (an all share offer of 1.77 Group shares for each BGG share), the formal offer was made on 13 June 2002. The transaction was completed when it was declared unconditional on 11 July 2002 having been resoundingly approved by shareholders of both companies. Accounting for the transaction: In accordance with the United Kingdom accounting standards the transaction was accounted for using acquisition accounting from 11 July 2002. Accordingly the first period in which BGG will be consolidated is the 6 months to 31 December 2002. A fair value exercise has been undertaken to ensure that all accounting policies and valuation bases of the combined group are in line. The principal material revaluation was to the BGG investment portfolio where a further amount of £6.9 million was provided, reducing its balance sheet value to £0.9 million. Integration: The principal business of BGG is investment banking and we began the integration of this business with Evolution Capital, the Group's investment banking business, immediately following the completion of the transaction. The two businesses have now been integrated, well ahead of schedule, and rebranded as Evolution Beeson Gregory representing the strengths and origins of the two parts. The integration process has resulted in significant cost savings across the combined business. These savings have been extracted from several areas including executive management, front office and support staff reduction and other duplicate overheads. The total savings amounted to a 30% reduction in annualised headcount costs across investment banking and executive management. Outlook Within Evolution Beeson Gregory, the combined investment banking franchise, activity levels have increased significantly since the integration and the new brand is leveraging the strengths of both companies in generating revenue. Your management team recognises the need for significant focus on managing costs and will continue to reduce these further. Christows has continued to operate profitably for each calendar month in 2002 and, with this robust platform, the executive team will begin to expand our private client and fund management franchise over the course of the year. IP2IPO, the Group's Intellectual Property subsidiary, which has long term partnerships with Oxford University's chemistry department and the University of Southampton, has had a productive first half. IP2IPO has now successfully spun out 5 companies, in sectors ranging from groundbreaking life sciences and biotechnology to industrial applications within the oil and gas industry. The continued rate of progress is expected to be sustained, and the fundamental nature of the technology and applications are attracting international financing. The Group now owns approximately 85% of the issued share capital of IP2IPO and is committed to developing the value that is being created within these two leading institutions. The Evolution Group has developed significantly over the course of 2002. The executive management team believes that the cost base appropriately reflects the stage of the market cycle. The current performance of all our subsidiaries, combined with the strength of the Group's balance sheet, gives your Board increasing confidence for the second half of the year. CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT Unaudited Unaudited six months six months to 30 June to 30 June Audited 2002 2001 31 December £'000 £'000 2001 Restated £'000 Turnover 5,117 3,586 7,580 Commissions payable (Note 2) (885) (605) (1,386) Gross Profit 4,232 2,981 6,194 Administrative expenses (Note 2) (6,249) (7,043) (21,254) Other operating income 5 - 31 Profit on sale of fixed asset investments - 957 7,003 Provision against fixed asset investments (1,987) - (4,739) Operating loss (3,999) (3,105) (12,765) Interest receivable and similar income 644 1,056 1,896 Interest payable and similar charges (11) - (9) Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (3,366) (2,049) (10,878) Tax on loss on ordinary activities (26) (32) 369 Loss on ordinary activities after taxation (3,392) (2,081) (10,509) Minority interest - 31 (1) Loss for the period attributable to the members of The Evolution Group Plc (3,392) (2,050) (10,510) Basic loss per ordinary share (2.91) (1.77) (9.92) CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET Unaudited Unaudited Audited 30 June 30 June 31 December 2002 2001 2001 £'000 £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible - 6,787 - Tangible assets 901 964 1,016 Investments 14,568 7,525 4,764 15,469 15,276 5,780 Current assets Debtors 4,256 2,279 3,983 Equity shares - - 64 Cash at bank and in hand 22,887 36,422 35,969 27,143 38,701 40,016 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year (2,966) (3,024) (2,413) Net current assets 24,177 35,677 37,603 Total assets less current liabilities 39,646 50,953 43,383 Provisions for liabilities and charges - - (414) Net assets 39,646 50,953 42,969 Capital and Reserves Called up share capital 8,157 8,127 8,153 Share premium account 66,150 66,108 66,150 Merger reserve 6,031 6,031 6,031 Profit and loss account (40,692) (29,291) (37,367) Total shareholders' funds 39,646 50,983 42,967 Shareholders' funds - Equity 32,675 44,012 35,996 Shareholders' funds - Non-equity 6,971 6,971 6,971 Minority interests - (30) 2 Minority interests & shareholders' funds 39,646 50,953 42,969 CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT Unaudited six Unaudited six months to 30 June months to 30 June 2002 2001 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Net cash outflow from operating activities (1,722) (4,123) Returns on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 587 1,044 Interest paid (11) Income from fixed asset investments 5 Net cash inflow from returns on investments and servicing of finance 581 1,044 Taxation Corporation tax (269) (51) Capital expenditure and financial investment Sale of tangible fixed assets - 1 Purchase of tangible fixed assets (139) (326) Purchase of fixed asset investments (11,791) (3,495) Sale of fixed asset investments 223 2,276 Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and financial investments (11,707) (1,544) Acquisitions and disposals Disposal of subsidiaries 36 Purchase of subsidiaries - (187) Net cash acquired with subsidiaries - 2,524 Cash outflow before management of liquid resources and financing (13,081) (2,337) Financing Issues of ordinary share capital - 1,437 Expenses of share issue - (31) Lease repayments - (18) Net cash inflow from financing - 1,388 Decrease in cash in the year (13,081) (949) Notes to the Interim Results 1. There has been no change in accounting policies since the last annual report, as at 31 December 2001. 2. The profit and loss account items for commissions payable and administrative expenses for the period ending 30 June 2001 have been adjusted to reflect the reclassification of direct dealing expenses of £594,000 from commissions paid to administrative expenses. This adjustment was to ensure consistency with the last annual report. 3. The results are unaudited and have not been reviewed by the auditors. 4. The interim report was approved by the directors on 16 September 2002. 5. Copies of this interim report will be available for a period of one month from today's date at the registered office address: The Registry, Royal Mint Court, London EC3N 4LB. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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