22 September 2021

Kin and Carta plc

Trading Update and Responsible Business Milestone

Kin and Carta plc (the "Company" or "Kin + Carta"), the global digital transformation ('DX') consultancy, provides the following update.

Following the Company's update on 15 June, trading continued to be strong and Kin + Carta now expects net revenue and adjusted profit before tax to be marginally ahead of the top end of market expectations for the financial year ended 31 July 2021, subject to audit.

The previously announced divestment plans for the Ventures businesses remain on track. The Company has a robust M&A pipeline under consideration.

Net debt is expected to be c. £19 million at 31 July 2021, with a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of c. 1.0X. The IAS19 funding position of the Company's legacy defined benefit pension scheme has improved significantly from the prior year resulting in an accounting surplus of £19.3 million at 31 July corresponding to a 105% funding level. All figures are unaudited.

Trading for the new financial year which began on 1 August 2021 has been strong, with continuing robust client demand. The Company will provide guidance for FY22 along with preliminary results for the financial year to 31 July 2021 on 26 October 2021.

Responsible Business Milestone

As announced yesterday, Kin + Carta has passed a special resolution, with 99.99% votes in favour, cast by shareholders representing over 80% of Kin + Carta's total voting rights, to amend its articles of association ("Articles") - a major step forward in its commitment to achieve B Corp certification, not only for its operating subsidiaries but also for Kin and Carta plc.

This move establishes Kin + Carta as a leader in ESG and responsible business practices and takes it one step closer to being the first B Corp certified company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Articles now commit the Board to a "triple bottom line" approach to decision making, seeking to balance considerations around people, profit and planet. This supports the firm's ambition to achieve B Corp certification by the end of the calendar year, which will be an external verification of its organisational ethos and the values it proudly stands for that have been part of its stated strategy and core operating principles for several years.

Chairman John Kerr said, "I'm grateful to our shareholders for their overwhelming support for our continuing commitment to responsible business practices. The alterations to the Company's articles and our journey towards full B Corp accreditation are fully aligned with sustainable growth and stakeholder interests."

CEO J Schwan said, "The responsible business values we operate under, coupled with our B Corp ambitions, have been core to our strategy for several years. Today's trading update demonstrates the complementary nature of responsible business practices and strong results which help drive long-term value creation."

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About Kin + Carta

Kin + Carta is a London Stock Exchange-listed global digital transformation consultancy committed to working alongside clients to build a world that works better for everyone.

Kin + Carta's 1,700 strategists, engineers, and creatives around the world bring the connective power of technology, data, and experience to the world's most influential companies - helping them to accelerate their digital roadmap, rapidly innovate, modernise their systems, enable their teams, and optimise for continued growth. Headquartered in London and Chicago with offices across three continents, the border-less model of service allows for the best minds to be connected to collaborate on client challenges across three platforms:

●     Digitally native management consultancy - Sector-focused consultants help the C-Suite better understand the shifts in their markets and how their data products, technology, and experiences need to evolve.

●     Modern cloud, data, and software engineering studio - 800+ data scientists, software engineers, and designers utilise emerging technologies to create new products and platforms for CIO clients.

●     Data-driven marketing technology agency - MarTech, content, and brand experts help our CMO clients amplify their digital investments and experiences by implementing and optimising modern marketing technology and data platforms.

With purpose at its core, Kin + Carta is a Certified B Corporation in the United States and on the road to achieving Certification for Europe in 2021, meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and accountability to balance the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.

For more information, please visit https://www.kinandcarta.com. 

Important notices

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This Announcement may contain "forward-looking statements" with respect to certain of the Company's plans and its current goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition, performance, strategic initiatives, objectives and results. Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as "aim", "anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "goal", "believe", "seek", "may", "could", "outlook" or other words of similar meaning.  By their nature, all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they are based on numerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future business strategies, relate to future events and depend on circumstances which are or may be beyond the control of the Company which could cause actual results or trends to differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements in this Announcement, including, but not limited to, domestic and global economic business conditions; market-related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates; the policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities; the effect of competition, inflation and deflation; the effect of legislative, fiscal, tax and regulatory developments in the jurisdictions in which the Company and its respective affiliates operate; the effect of volatility in the equity, capital and credit markets on profitability and ability to access capital and credit; a decline in credit ratings of the Company; the effect of operational and integration risks; an unexpected decline in sales for the Company; inability to realise anticipated synergies; any limitations of internal financial reporting controls; and the loss of key personnel.  Any forward-looking statements made in this Announcement by or on behalf of the Company speak only as of the date they are made.  Save as required by the Market Abuse Regulation, the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, the Listing Rules or by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and will not publicly release any revisions it may make to these forward-looking statements that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Announcement.