10th Oct 2005 07:00
Jelf Group PLC10 October 2005 Jelf Group plc ("Jelf" or "the Company") Pre-Close Statement Jelf Group plc, an established corporate intermediary, will be announcing itspreliminary results for the year ended 30th September 2005 on 26th January 2006.The Board is pleased to provide the following update and to confirm that tradingis in line with expectations for the full year; the Group's first full year as alisted company on AIM. Since the Group's flotation on 21 October 2005, The Jelf Group has activelypursued its buy and build strategy focusing on the West Country and Wales,offering a range of corporate services principally in the areas of commercialinsurance, healthcare, employee benefits and financial planning. Today the Groupoperates from 8 offices, advising over 6,000 corporate clients. During the year the Group has made solid progress against all its objectives,not only in delivering strong organic growth, but also through making a numberof strategic appointments and acquisitions utilising existing cash flows andfunds raised at the time of the flotation: • December 2004: Managed Healthcare Ltd, an independent Somerset based brokerage specialising in healthcare and private medical insurance for a maximum consideration of £150,000;• January 2005: recruitment of Somerset based, top independent financial adviser Arnold Wills together with his team and acquisition of his existing business book for an undisclosed sum from existing cash flows;• April 2005: appointment of Gina Dixon, formerly of Julian Hodge Bank, to head up the Group's new commercial insurance proposition in Wales, together with her five account executives; securing the Jelf Group's position as one of the premier corporate intermediaries in Wales;• May 2005: acquisition of the Taunton based operations of RK Harrison Insurance together with recruitment of its successful insurance team of seven people for a maximum consideration of £0.98m from existing cash flows and funds raised at the time of flotation;• June 2005: Acquisition of the financial services business of Crowther Beard LLP, a firm of accountants, for a maximum consideration of £150,000. As the team and client base have grown, so have the opportunities forcross-selling which continues to gather momentum. It was in response to clientdemand, therefore, that the Group added a fourth arm to its operations duringthe year with the launch of a separate Commercial Finance broking arm. TheCommercial Finance arm is under the management of Colin Hall-Tomkin who waspreviously a senior corporate banker with Barclays and Bank of Ireland. Itfocuses on providing independent professional advice on how and where theGroup's corporate clients should source asset finance, invoice discounting and awide range of property related loan facilities. The Board is pleased to report that the new teams and acquisitions are beingsuccessfully integrated into the Group and that trading across all areascontinues to be strong. The Board looks forward to providing a more detailedreport at the time of the preliminary results in January and looks forward tothe coming year with confidence. - Ends - Further information from: Jelf Group PLCAlex Alway (Group Chief Executive) Tel: 01454 272727 Redleaf Communications Tel: 020 7955 1410Emma Kane/Sanna Lehtinen Mob: 07876 338339 Notes to Editors: • The Jelf Group was founded by Chris Jelf in 1989 and offers an extensive range of corporate services; • The Group advises over 6,000 corporate clients across a range of disciplines. These clients cover the spectrum from significant public companies to small owner managed businesses. Core Group clients are medium sized owner-managed businesses, typically employing 5 to 300 staff, with a turnover of up to £25 million;• Further information is available on the Jelf Group at the Company's website: www.jelfgroup.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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