Trading Update & Secured Credit Facility

RNS Number : 6785G

Altitude Group PLC

31 March 2022

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

Altitude Group plc

("Altitude", the "Company" or the "Group")

Full Year Trading Update & Secured Credit Facility

Altitude Group plc (AIM: ALT), the operator of the leading marketplace for the global promotional products industry, provides a trading update for the financial year to 31 March 2022 ("FY2022"). The Board is pleased to report that the Group is experiencing accelerated recovery post Covid and continues to successfully navigate the current business climate. The Group has increased its core business revenue, replacing the £1.9m FY2021 of one-off Personal Protective Equipment sales. With strong trading in FY2022, and key financial metrics tracking ahead of last year, the Group expects to report  FY2022 revenue of c. £12.0m (FY2021:£7.7m) and adjusted operating profit * of c. £1.0m (FY2021: £0.6m), representing increases of c. 56% and c. 80% respectively.

*Operating profit before share-based payment charges, amortisation of intangible assets, depreciation of tangible assets and exceptional charges

Services

Group services revenue, which is derived from both AIM members and contracted Preferred Partners, grew in FY2022 by an estimated 20%, from successful delivery of AIM network performance. Approximately 93% of services revenues are either annual recurring fixed revenues or repeating ad valorem marketing revenues based on AIM members transactional volume with contracted Preferred Partners.

Merchanting

Our merchanting programmes, which includes AIM Capital Solutions (ACS) acting as principal in the underlying transaction, grew substantially through the period with revenue of c. £5.6m in FY2022 (£2.3m FY2021). We are pleased with the platform that has been built to support our Merchanting programmes and are poised for continued growth.

Balance Sheet and Cash

The Group's cash balances and working capital cycle followed the normal and expected path with  working capital requirement reducing in Q1 22. At 31 March 2022, the Group is expecting to report net cash excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities of at least £1m.

New Bank Credit Facility

The Group is also pleased to report it has secured a new working capital credit facility (the "Facility") with TD Bank N.A., with an initial 12 month revolving facility of $700k. The Facility has no significant  financial covenants and is secured by the assets of the US Group with a parental guarantee from Altitude. The Facility will provide access to non-dilutive funding to support the Group in executing its growth strategy. The Facility has an arrangement fee of $3,500 annually and incurs interest at 1% above the US Prime Rate on drawdown. This Facility is expected to remain undrawn at the year end.

Nichole Stella, Group CEO of Altitude, said:

"We have emerged in the post-pandemic era with positive momentum. Throughout this difficult period we have shown consistent and organic revenue growth and we have not needed to raise any forms of finance, neither equity or debt. It is testament to the resilience and hard work of our team, our strong supplier relationships and our market leading customer proposition, that we are able to report such a positive statement.  As such, we are focused on our strategy to scale the business and are well placed for accelerated future growth."

Altitude Group plc Nichole Stella, Chief Executive Officer Graham Feltham, Chief Financial Officer	Via Zeus Capital
Zeus (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Dan Bate (Investment Banking) David Foreman (Investment Banking) James Edis (Investment Banking) Dominic King (Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]

 

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