Trading Update

The Mission Marketing Group plc 

Trading update and notice of interim results

The Mission Marketing Group plc ("themission", "the Company" or "the Group", AIM: TMMG), the technology-embraced marketing communications and advertising group, today issues a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

The Board is pleased to report that the Group expects to report results for the first half of the year in line with its KPI targets of revenue growth of 5% and profit* growth of 10% from continuing operations**, continuing the Group's track record of growth over the past eight years.

The Group made no new acquisitions in the period but settled £3.1m of obligations in relation to acquisitions made in prior years. The Group's net bank debt at 30 June 2019 was £5.2m (30 June 2018: £7.8m) and the Group's debt leverage ratio (the ratio of net bank debt to EBITDA) reduced further, to x0.5 on a comparable, pre-IFRS 16, basis (30 June 2018: x0.7) and to x0.9 on an IFRS 16 basis (30 June 2018: x1.3).

As in previous years, the Board expect the Group's results for the year to 31 December 2019 to again have a significant bias towards the second half.

The Board intends to announce the Group's interim results on 25 September 2019.

* Headline profit before tax, calculated excluding the profit/loss on investments, acquisition-related items and start-up losses

** Continuing operations exclude the results from BroadCare, sold on 12 November 2018

Impact of the adoption of IFRS 16: Leases

The Group has implemented IFRS 16: Leases using the full retrospective approach with effect from 1 January 2018. The impact of the new accounting standard is that assets and liabilities as at the transition date of 1 January 2018 will increase by approximately £8m for assets previously accounted for as operating leases. The impact on profit before taxation is insignificant but approximately £2.6m of operating lease expenses will be reclassified as depreciation and interest charges in the full year, and £1.3m in each of the six month periods ended 30 June 2018 and 2019. Accordingly, EBITDA will increase by a corresponding amount.

Enquiries:

themission is a network of entrepreneurial marketing communications Agencies employing over 1,000 people in the UK, Asia and US, working together to provide Clients with the expertise and resource to make them more successful in today's dynamic environment.

www.themission.co.uk