Trading Update & Second Interim Dividend for 2020

The information communicated in this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

27 January 2021

FDM GROUP (HOLDINGS) plc ("FDM GROUP", "FDM" or "THE GROUP")

YEAR END TRADING UPDATE AND SECOND INTERIM DIVIDEND FOR 2020

FDM Group, a global professional services provider with a focus on Information Technology, today provides a trading update for the year to 31 December 2020, ahead of its full year results, which will be released on 10 March 2021.

Group Trading in the Period and Closing Balance Sheet

FDM delivered a solid performance in the second half of the year and the Board expects the Group's results for the year to 31 December 2020 to be in line with its expectations.  

Revenue for the year to 31 December 2020 is expected to be £268 million (2019: £272 million) and adjusted profit before tax¹ is expected to be £42.0 million (2019: £54.5 million), subject to audit.

The Group's balance sheet remains very strong with closing cash balances of £65 million (2019: £37 million) and no debt. 

The Group ended the year with 3,580 Mounties placed with clients (2019: 3,924). The UK and Ireland closed with 1,625 Mounties deployed (2019: 1,910), North America closed with 1,086 Mounties deployed (2019: 1,277), APAC with 633 Mounties deployed (2019: 497) and EMEA with 236 Mounties deployed (2019: 240). Conditions in the majority of our geographic markets continued to trend closer to normality through the final quarter; the number of unallocated (beached) Mounties and Mounties who have completed their training but await their first placement (signed off) returned to more normal levels by the year end.          

¹The adjusted profit before tax is calculated before Performance Share Plan expenses, including social security costs

Dividends

Reflecting the difficulty at that time in assessing the impact on the business of COVID-19, in March 2020 the Board decided against proposing a final dividend for the year to 31 December 2019. In July 2020, taking into account the Group's encouraging performance, the Board declared an interim dividend of 18.5 pence per ordinary share, which was paid to shareholders on 4 September 2020.

Given the Group's continued solid performance, strong cash position and encouraging prospects, the Board is now declaring a second interim dividend for the year to 31 December 2020 of 13.0 pence per ordinary share, which will be payable on 26 February 2021 to shareholders on the register on 5 February 2021.

The Board confirms that going forward it plans to resume the Group's normal dividend policy and timetable, commencing with the final dividend for the year to 31 December 2020, which the Board intends to recommend at the time of the publication of the full year results on 10 March 2021 for approval by shareholders at the 2021 AGM.  

Outlook     

Rod Flavell, Group CEO, commented:

"FDM has delivered a solid performance for 2020. Although we are alert to the possible impact on client activity of further lockdowns, our agile and robust business model has allowed us to respond rapidly and effectively to the exceptional challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. The current year has started promisingly with encouraging levels of demand across most sectors and geographies."

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement may contain statements which constitute 'forward-looking statements'. Although FDM Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

ENDS

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