10th Jan 2019 09:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - Employee services firm Personal Group PLC on Thursday warned profit in 2019 is unlikely to significantly grow despite "good" progress across all businesses in 2018.
Shares were down 6.7% on Thursday at a price of 424.42 pence each.
In 2018, Personal Group's trading was ahead of 2017, the company said, with results set to meet market expectations.
Personal Group said the results will reflect the strength of its core insurance businesses despite market challenges such as GDPR data protection legislation. The firm also had to accelerate a plan to rationalise its supply chain after data security issues in the year.
Software-as-a-service revenue performed well, Personal Group added, while its Let's Connect business "significantly" improved year-on-year performance.
However, Personal Group cautioned: "Though the company has broadly traded in line with expectations in 2018, the challenges experienced by each if its divisions, combined with the wider economic uncertainty related to the UK's withdrawal from the EU, have led the board to adopt a more conservative outlook in regard to the Let's Connect and Insurance businesses in 2019.
"As a consequence, profitability is unlikely to grow materially from 2018."
Chief Executive Mark Scanlon said: "Despite challenges in 2018 the company has traded broadly in line with expectations. While the current economic and political conditions inevitably bring a greater level of business uncertainty, which we have seen evidenced through slower decision making on the part of our customers, the board remains cautiously optimistic that we can continue to progress our business in the year ahead.
"Our search for my successor is progressing well and we hope to make further communications soon."
Scanlon announced in September he would be leaving within a year after six and a half years in charge.
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