Anexo Group PLC on Wednesday hailed a ‘solid performance’ throughout last year and declared a stable dividend in response.

It is optimistic for this current year despite predicting ‘constrained’ profit growth.

Anexo is a Liverpool, England-based credit hire and legal services provider. It said pretax profit for 2022 was £24.1 million, up 1.5% from £23.7 million in 2021. Revenue increased by 17% to £138.3 million from £118.2 million.

Administrative expenses before share based payments increased 18% to £65.0 million from £55.1 million in 2021. Finance costs increased 75% to £6.3 million from £3.6 million, and cost of sales increased 22% to £32.6 million from £26.8 million.

Anexo declared a full-year dividend of 1.5 pence per share for 2022, unchanged from 2021.

Anexo anticipates that the continued growth in headcount supporting ‘ever increasing’ case settlements will contribute to further growth in and beyond 2023. The group plans to focus on cash generation this year, primarily through strategic acquisitions.

Chair Alan Sellers said profit growth for 2023 ‘is likely to be constrained’ but predicted an increased return on capital employed.

‘The success of [our] strategy is reflected in the growth in cash collections driven by the continued investment in high quality staff across our three legal services offices,’ Sellers commented.

‘We continue to be excited by the opportunities within housing disrepair, which has more than doubled its case portfolio during the year, as well as fresh activity on emissions claims. A focus on prudent case management will enable the group to concentrate on cash generation and a reduction in overall debt during FY2023.’

Shares in Anexo were down 3.6% at 96.45p on Wednesday in London.

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