Admission to AIM and First Day of Dealings

RNS Number : 7126G

Bilby PLC

06 March 2015

 



Press Release                                                                                               6 March 2015

Bilby Plc

(Bilby or the Company)

Admission to AIM and First Day of Dealings

Bilby Plc (AIM: BILB.L), a holding company providing a platform for strategic acquisitions in the gas heating and general building services industries, has today been admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Bilby has acquired P&R Installation Company Limited (P&R) through a share for share exchange and is the first operating subsidiary of Bilby.

Highlights:

·	The Company has raised £2.5m through a placing of new ordinary shares at 58p per share, valuing Bilby at £17.0m
·	Phil Copolo, founder and Executive Deputy Chairman retains a 52% interest in the Company following a placing of founder shares to raise an additional £1.6m
·	P&R has long standing customer relationships maintained through quality of service and management expertise. These include the Guinness Partnership, London & Quadrant, Gallions and the Royal Borough of Greenwich
·	Bilby intends to pursue further acquisitions of other building services businesses similar to P&R across operating across London and South East England
·	Strong cash generation enabling the Directors to confirm that Bilby will pay a maiden final dividend in respect to the financial period ending 31 March 2015.

Phil Copolo, Founder and Executive Deputy Chairman of Bilby, said:

"Bilby's funding and Admission to AIM provide the Company with a fantastic platform to take advantage of the significant market opportunity in the London and the South East that is driven by strict government regulations.  I am delighted that we can now accelerate the growth of Bilby through both our organic and buy and build strategies. We welcome our new shareholders and look forward to updating them as Bilby positions itself to access larger building service contracts whilst maintaining our disciplined focus on our target markets, services and margins."

For further information, please contact:

Bilby Plc
Darren Dunnett, Managing Director David Ellingham, Finance Director	[phone]
Charles Stanley Securities Nominated Adviser and Broker
Russell Cook James Greenwood	[phone]
Hudson Sandler
Charlie Jack Alex Brennan Emily Dillon	+44 (o)20 7796 4133

Further information can be found at www.bilbyplc.com

Business Overview

Bilby has been established as a holding company to provide a platform for strategic acquisitions in the gas heating and general building services industries. Bilby acquired the shares of P&R on 2 March 2015 through a share for share exchange and P&R is now a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Bilby.

Headquartered in Sidcup, Kent, P&R employs approximately 80 staff and is an established and award winning provider of gas heating appliance installation and maintenance services to residential and commercial properties. It has expanded its activities in recent years to incorporate a broader range of domestic and commercial plumbing, electrical and general building repair works.

P&R provides services predominately to local authorities and housing associations across London and South East England. The experienced management team places emphasis on the provision of a high level of service through which P&R has developed long standing relationships with its customers who include the Guinness Partnership, London & Quadrant, Gallions and the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Operational and financial track record driven by a focused approach:

The Directors believe that, alongside a strong and experienced management structure, Bilby's geographic focus and disciplined approach to tendering for new contract work has helped P&R to achieve above average operating margins compared to its publicly quoted peer group.

An award winning reputation with ongoing and long established customer relationships arising from P&R's high quality service and management expertise;

A substantial level of recurring revenue through multiple long term and rolling contracts with local authorities and housing associations;

An established financial record and yielding:

·	For the year ended 31 January 2014 P&R generated revenue of £9.73m and in the nine months ended 31 October 2014 P&R reported revenues of £8.67m;
·	2012 - 2014 revenue CAGR of 13.4 per cent;
·	Adjusted operating profit margin of 14.2 per cent. for the 9 months ended 31 October 2014;
·	Strong cash generation enabling the Directors to confirm that Bilby will pay a maiden final dividend in respect to the financial period ending 31 March 2015.

Growth opportunities - Strong market fundamentals and a 'Buy and Build' strategy

The Directors anticipate that continued growth will be underpinned by expanding opportunities in a growing market. The gas heating and general building services industries are benefiting from strong market fundamentals driven by government standards and legislation, such as the Decent Homes Standard, the Right to Repair Scheme and applicable gas safety regulations. Such government policies and initiatives place compulsory obligations leading to potential legal liability requiring local authority and housing associations to meet a minimum standard in all social housing. These obligations fall on housing bodies regardless of budgetary pressures and demands they face in other areas.

There are currently over 1.25 million local authority and housing association properties across London and South East England. For the year ended 31 March 2014 these social housing providers spent over £2.5 billion on the repair, maintenance and supervision of their housing stock.

In addition to its clear organic growth strategy, the Directors believe that there are opportunities to expand the Group's operations through further acquisitions of businesses operating in markets similar to P&R. Through consolidation by way of a 'Buy-and-Build' strategy the Directors believe that they will deliver further and accelerated growth. In particular, many of the larger and potentially significantly profitable social housing maintenance contracts are subject to pre-qualifying conditions which are often based on a minimum level of revenue set above the Group's current level of turnover. As such P&R has been unable to tender for such contracts but with consolidation, the Directors believe that an enlarged group will be able to tender for such contracts.

Directors

Phil Copolo- Executive Deputy Chairman

Mr Copolo has grown and led the business since 1977. Takes an active role in the management of P&R and is a qualified gas engineer by trade. Has over 40 years' experience managing maintenance and building services and is respected throughout the industry.  His responsibilities include the implementation of the Buy and Build strategy.

Darren Dunnett- Managing Director

Mr Dunnett has been working at P&R for 21 years and oversees the financial, personnel, procurement and IT functions.  He is dedicated to the continued growth of the Group both in terms of geographical coverage and increasing the quality of service provided to both corporate and residential clients.

David Ellingham - Finance Director

Mr Ellingham is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, he is responsible for identifying complementary targets for the Buy and Build strategy and brings a wealth of experience in merger and acquisitions. He has prior board experience acting as executive director of various quoted companies.

Sangita Shah - Non-Executive Chairman

Mrs Shah has both executive and non-executive board experience.  She is a Board advisor to Global Reach Technology, a regular consultant to HM Cabinet Office and for a number of blue chip organisations such as HSBC, Rathbones and MGM Advantage. She is a Director at Swindon Town Football Company Limited.

David Johnson - Non-Executive Director

Mr Johnson has had a long and successful career in the investment sector with a number of leading City investment houses including Sun Life, Henderson Crosthwaite, Investec and Panmure Gordon. He joined Chelverton in 2014 where he has responsibility for the group's private equity investments.

 

END

 

 

MSCUVSBRVUAORAR