25 May 2022

Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) plc ("MAB" or "the Group")

AGM Statement

Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) plc (AIM:MAB1.L) will hold its Annual General Meeting at 2pm today during which the Non-Executive Chair, Katherine Innes Ker, will make the following statement:

"Adviser numbers have continued to grow since our final results statement on 28 March 2022 and had risen to 2,046¹ advisers by 20 May 2022, an increase of 9% year to date.  Our current pipeline of incoming new Appointed Representatives and advisers is also strong, as is our pipeline of written new business that will go on to complete over the coming months. In addition, we continue to grow the number of new customer leads into MAB, which will help the Group to deliver further market share growth. This all reflects the strong momentum that the Group has built and will support MAB's plans to deliver secure and sustained profitable growth.

"MAB's mortgage completions for Q1 2022 were £5.8bn, representing an increase of 11% on a notably strong Q1 2021 (which in no small part was driven by stamp duty relief) and 44% on Q1 2020.  We are pleased with this performance, especially when compared to the exceptional market performance we saw in the first half of 2021.

"Despite the geopolitical uncertainty and the rising cost of living for UK households, those that want or need to move home continue to do so. Consumer demand for housing remains high and activity is strong. As expected, increases in interest rates have stimulated more refinancing activity, with mortgage borrowers now more motivated than ever to secure the best rate possible to help their household budgeting.

"The resilience shown by people who continue to move home is helped by the fact that employment is high, household savings are high and for those who are subsequent movers, housing equity levels have also risen over recent years. Although interest rates have risen and will most likely continue to rise over the next 12 months, current interest rates remain near historical lows. Lenders also have strong liquidity levels, meaning mortgage availability is now close to pre-pandemic highs, thereby helping the market to remain buoyant.

"As we look out to the second half of the year, we expect to complete our acquisition of Fluent, which is subject to FCA approval of change in control.  This acquisition will be transformational for our national lead generation strategy, allowing us to leverage the combined strength of both businesses to attract more new leads into the Group. We also expect the acquisition to be significantly earnings enhancing in the first full year following completion. This, together with our maturing and new growth drivers, will position the enlarged Group to further accelerate its pace of growth. Current trading remains in line with the Board's expectations."

¹ Includes a total of 72 advisers who are either directly authorised or later life advisers. The directly authorised advisers are employees of a firm previously authorised under an Appointed Representative agreement with MAB until 7 December 2020. MAB continues to provide services to this firm, which is now directly authorised by the FCA. For both later life and directly authorised advisers the fees received by MAB represent the net income received by MAB as there are no commission payouts made by MAB. Also includes 14 advisers from associates, who are in the process of being onboarded under MAB's AR arrangements. These advisers will shortly become mainstream advisers. Until these 14 advisers become onboarded fully as mainstream advisers, MAB currently only recognises its share of profit after tax from these associates.

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