8th Apr 2020 13:28
(Alliance News) - Pebble Group PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp swing to loss for its full-year results and withdrew its guidance for 2020 and 2021.
For 2019, the promotional products-focused software firm posted a pretax loss of GBP10.3 million, swinging from a profit of GBP1.3 million reported for 2018. This was despite revenue rising 15% to GBP107.2 million from GBP93.0 million.
The Brand Addition business delivered revenue of GBP97.9 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of GBP10.7 million. Facilisgroup - acquired in December 2018 - delivered revenue of GBP9.3 million and adjusted Ebitda of GBP5.1 million.
Operating expenses more than doubled to GBP44.9 million from GBP21.0 million the year prior, as exceptional costs surged to GBP17.3 million from GBP1.3 million. The company said GBP13.4 million of costs came as a result of a settlement of deferred payments for the Facilisgroup acquisition, and GB3.9 million came from costs in relation to its initial public offering.
No dividend was declared for 2019 but the company said it will review the decision regarding a dividend payout for 2020 as soon as the extent of disruption caused by Covid-19 is clearer.
Looking ahead, Pebble Group said the Covid-19 outbreak has hurt its financial performance, adding that it expects its business to continue to be affected until disruption arising from the pandemic settles.
"Covid-19 has had a major impact on the order demand of our Brand Addition Corporate Programmes clients. These clients are global businesses that will re-emerge from the initial shock and we expect more normal order demand patterns to return as restrictions on working from home, travel and holding events are lightened. Added to this, we expect new client wins will begin to impact in the second half and contribute to the speed of demand recovery, said Chief Executive Christopher Lee.
"The group has reacted quickly and has been supported by the Brand Addition team utilising government initiatives, where appropriate, and reducing costs, where activity levels are lower. We believe these actions, together with strong balance sheet of the Group and the less affected business streams in Facilisgroup and Brand Addition Consumer Promotions, leave the group well placed both to navigate the short-term issues and return to the expected growth pattern pre-Covid-19," he added.
As at the end of 2019, Pebble Group had cash of GBP8.9 million, increasing to GBP9.9 million as at Monday.
The stock was trading 3.0% lower at 80.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Ife Taiwo; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
The Pebble Gro.