21st Apr 2020 15:51
(Alliance News) - Professional services firm RBG Holdings PLC on Tuesday said profit more than doubled in 2019 with boosts from litigation finance and other professional services.
Shares in RBG were up 12% at 71.52 pence in London in afternoon trading.
The company, which owns UK law firm Rosenblatt Ltd, reported a GBP7.6 million pretax profit for 2019, more than twice 2018's GBP3.0 million profit. 2018 was a shorter financial year for RBG, running from February 6 to December 31 rather than from January 1 as in 2019.
Total revenue increased 59% to GBP19.9 million from GBP12.5 million, including a 45% rise in legal services revenue to GBP18.1 million - legal services having represented the entirety of revenue in 2018.
On top of this, 2019 benefited from a GBP1.9 million revenue contribution from other professional services with no such revenue the year before. Further, the company recorded GBP3.8 million of realised fair value gains from its litigation finance segment after no fair value gains in 2018.
RBG has planned to pay a 3p per share interim dividend for the six months to the end of 2019, up from 2p the prior year. However, in the wake of Covid-19 uncertainty, its has opted to postpone its decision on whether to pay such a dividend until May.
Chief Executive Nicola Foulston said: "The new financial year has been dominated by the Covid-19 crisis. I am delighted with how the business has quickly adapted. At Rosenblatt, we have been able to support all our clients remotely, aided by the IT investment since the IPO. The firm has had many new client instructions, in particular, to handle complex financial restructurings and employment issues, arising from the crisis. At Convex, there is likely to be a delay in the completion of specific transactions, but the pipeline is strong.
"Across the group, we have proven experience in supporting clients in times of upheaval. I believe that this gives us an ability to better react to the opportunities and challenges the crisis will inevitably offer. At this juncture, it is difficult to predict exactly how the group will fare this financial year, but we have a solid balance sheet, but also services that will be in demand. We are cautious but optimistic that the group will continue its positive progress over the coming months."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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