1 September 2021

Alpha FX Group plc

("Alpha FX" or the "Group")

Interim Report

Alpha FX Group plc (AIM: AFX), a provider of FX risk management and alternative banking solutions to corporates and institutions internationally, today announces its unaudited Interim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2021.

Financial Highlights

Operational Highlights

* Underlying excludes the impact of non-cash share-based payments.

** The Group exclude Training Accounts (those that have generated less than £10,000 in revenue since being onboarded) in order to provide a clearer picture of client retention for the purposes of these figures.

^*** Decentralisation refers to the process of dividing the business into two separate divisions - FX Risk Management and Alternative Banking - each with their own dedicated technology, infrastructure and teams.

Outlook

As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, activity has normalised and the market opportunity is ever larger.  Our momentum from the first half has continued into H2, and the Group's trading has continued to be strong, driven by a healthy demand for our services from existing and new clients. In order to maximise our long-term growth opportunities, we will continue to re-invest across all divisions in the business in H2 and beyond. We remain confident in the direction of travel of the business and the full year outcome, in line with our revised expectations reported in the Group's trading update announced on 14 July 2021.

Morgan Tillbrook, Chief Executive Officer of Alpha FX commented:

"I am proud to report on a strong set of results for the Group which saw growth and profitability achieved across all divisions. Since our IPO in 2017, we have gone a long way to establish Alpha as a leading provider of FX Risk Management solutions, and our strategy to grow that reputation internationally continues to gain momentum. Our movement into Alternative Banking in 2020 represented new, unchartered territory, and questions may therefore have been raised as to whether the success we have achieved as a high-quality, people-led FX consultancy could be replicated when it came to developing technology and products. Ultimately, I believe the results published today show that it can.

Our decentralisation effort has no doubt played a key part in our progress, creating two highly focused and agile teams with clearly defined strategies for growth. But when we take a step back, I believe our success to date comes down to a far simpler truth - whether it's providing a high-quality consultancy service or a high-quality technology offering, the common denominator is always the same - people. At Alpha, we are privileged to be working with some of the sharpest, hardest-working (and nicest!) people in the industry. They have, and always will be our greatest strength.

I'd like to thank our team members for their outstanding contribution, our clients for their loyalty, and our investors for their continued faith in our exciting journey. I look forward to providing a further update at the end of the year."

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors

Alpha provides FX risk management and alternative banking solutions to corporates and institutions across the UK, Europe and Canada.  Combining leading expertise and technology, the Group partners with a small number of high value clients, to provide enterprise-level solutions across four key areas: FX risk management, international payments, accounts and collections.

Since it was incorporated in 2010, Alpha FX has been able to build and retain a high-quality client base that includes a number of highly respected brands.

Market Abuse Regulation

This announcement is released by Alpha FX Group plc and contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ("MAR") and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of Alpha FX Group plc was Tim Kidd, Chief Financial Officer.

Chief Executive's Statement

Overview

Whilst uncertainty will remain under COVID-19, the normalisation of international trading activity experienced since June 2020 continued in H1 of this year. As a result, trading in the first half was strong across all divisions of the business; revenue increased 90% against the same period last year, client numbers increased by 84, and average revenue per client continued to increase.

The Group is profitable across all divisions, and underlying profit before tax was £15.4m with our margin benefitting from lower than planned travel, hiring and entertainment expenses. The initial results from expanding our culture, product offering and technology into alternative banking and overseas offices has been particularly encouraging and underpins our confidence in the longer-term growth of the company.

As well as completing the decentralisation of our operations and the day to day running of the business, the management team has been able to dedicate significant time in H1 to focus on the medium and long-term strategy for the Group. We have already started to execute these plans and by taking the time to clarify 'where to play and how to win', we continue to see increasing traction and stickiness with clients as our service offering and infrastructure evolves to better meet their requirements. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on understanding our clients' needs and concentrating on those areas and markets where we know that we can differentiate and therefore grow sustainably.

Board change

Vijay Thakrar - Non-Executive Director

In May, we were delighted to appoint Vijay Thakrar to the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director, following Matt Knowles transition to Strategic Adviser earlier in the year.

Vijay is a Chartered Accountant with extensive strategic, commercial and governance experience with fast growth public companies, and was previously a Partner at EY and Deloitte, chairing Deloitte's mid cap listed companies' practice. He has served on various Boards in a non-executive capacity, including The Quoted Companies Alliance and Quorn Foods, and has extensive experience in chairing both audit and remuneration committees. Vijay is currently a Non-Executive Director at Treatt plc, The Alumasc Group plc, Sanderson Design Group plc and RSM UK. Vijay will also chair the Audit Committee. 

We undertook a comprehensive search when looking for our next non-executive Director, and are delighted to have been able to attract someone of Vijay's calibre. As well as bringing with him a wealth of experience across a number of successful and respected companies, it has been clear from working with Vijay that he really values Alpha's emphasis on culture and people.

Strategy, culture and growth

We have grown strongly year-on-year since inception, driven by our focus on people, culture, clients, technology and an employee ownership structure. Our performance in the first half continues to reflect our retention and hiring of top talent and particularly our successful transition of incentivised team leaders to launch new business divisions.

Overall headcount increased during the first half of the year, from 147 to 171 as at 30 June 2021. This comprised new hires in both Front Office, focused on new business development, where headcount increased to 84 (FY2020: 78), and in Back Office (focused on supporting the growth of our technology and operations in Alternative Banking), where headcount increased to 87 (FY2020: 69). We expect investment in headcount to accelerate in H2 as the world returns to normal and the hindrances to hiring created by the pandemic subside. Importantly, the teamwork and solidarity required to rise to the challenge of the pandemic meant we not only maintained but strengthened our culture during lockdown.

Our investment in technology is delivering new and innovative client propositions and building business units that are increasingly decentralised. This has supported the growth in client numbers in H1 to 838 (FY 2020: 754) and the successful trading across all the divisions including our established and newer overseas offices.

As we scale and the business becomes more complex, the challenges of managing culture and talent will increase, but our performance during the pandemic gives us confidence not only for the second half, but well beyond as we look to further expand in a measured way by product and geography, and continue to invest in shaping a team that is capable of supporting the business as it expands.

Our in-house recruitment team is developing in line with our ambitions and is beginning to have a marked effect on bringing new talent into the organisation, both in the UK and in our overseas offices. As the team continues to grow within Alpha FX and share in our unique culture, we are confident that they will become ever more effective and provide us with another competitive advantage.

Another of those competitive advantages, our employee share ownership schemes, is undoubtedly one of the major reasons for the ongoing success of the Company. The collective ownership and ability for our staff to benefit in a tangible way from the client outcomes they deliver, ensures that we are all pulling in the same direction, whilst also always putting the long-term interests of our clients first.  We continue to devise new schemes to ensure more of our colleagues are able to participate.

Business overview

FX Risk Management

Our FX Risk Management division focuses on supporting corporates and institutions globally, that trade currency for commercial purposes, such as buying or selling goods and services overseas or hedging the underlying value of an asset or liability. We service this marketplace through our corporate and institutional sales teams in London, Canada, Amsterdam and (soon to be) Milan. FX Risk Management had a strong half, with revenues up 48% to £24.7m, helped by recovering client trading activity across our core UK client base and growth in our overseas offices.

Our Corporate London division continues to perform strongly with revenues up 29%. Since the beginning of H2 2020, the overall market opportunity has been broadly consistent with pre-COVID levels. Notable exceptions include tourism and hospitality, but this has been more than offset by increased activity in other sectors. Overall, our strong performance in the period reflects our continued investment for growth, alongside the quality of our people, service offering, and highly diversified client base. In addition, this division continues to serve as the incubator for future leaders within the business, fostering our strong culture, knowledge and expertise, and providing the basis for expansion into new products and geographies.

Overseas offices

Our overseas offices in Canada and the Netherlands achieved excellent growth in the half with the Toronto office making a significant profit contribution.

Our Netherlands office demonstrates the success of exporting Alpha's culture from our core UK Corporate team. Set up in April 2020, this office achieved a profitable contribution in the half and has achieved quarter on quarter revenue growth since launching.

Subject to regulatory approval, we intend to launch a new office in Milan in the second half. This move will see three existing employees from our London office move to Italy to lead the team, having already demonstrated strong track records of success penetrating the Italian market when operating from the UK base. Establishing a presence in Italy not only provides greater prospects within this already encouraging marketplace but, additionally, enables the Group to attract high-quality local talent.

We also intend to invest in long-term office leases in Canada and The Netherlands which reflects our confidence in the markets and will enable us to create inspiring world-class working environments for our colleagues and to attract new talent.

Our model is proving to be scalable across a number of geographic regions, and we continue to identify new growth opportunities in overseas markets as our addressable market expands.

Alternative Banking

Our Alternative Banking division focuses on providing corporates and institutions globally with a suite of alternative banking solutions covering payments, collections and accounts. Serviced primarily by a specialist team within Alpha Platform Solutions, the team also benefits the wider Group from cross-selling with our corporate and institutional sales teams.  Alternative Banking revenues grew substantially in the period, up 600% to £9.5m on H1 2020, led by the payments business, Alpha Platform Solutions.

Following the launch of our new end-to-end technology stack in April 2021, Alternative Banking achieved consecutive record-breaking revenue quarters in Q1 and Q2. The investments made into this division are bearing fruit, and the platform is becoming increasingly more attractive to existing and potential clients. Moving into the second half, this division has a long-term strategy in place underpinned by a focused technology roadmap and a highly capable team.

As a result of the growth experienced in our Alternative Banking division, our cash conversion continues to strengthen, providing the basis for future investments into the Group and the collateralisation of hedging contracts.

Technology

The Group has seen the benefits of investment in its technology platforms during the half year. Our product updates are being deployed faster than ever before and at a higher quality, which is driving the strong growth in Alternative Banking. The Group continues to focus on investing in technology and we expect further key platform updates in the second half.  Having completed and launched a brand-new end-to-end platform for Alternative Banking, and migrated our Alternative Banking clients across to this platform in line with our decentralisation plan, the focus of the technology team has now expanded to devising and developing the next generation platform for FX risk management. By investing further, we will enhance our reputation for cutting edge solutions and ensure that both aspects of our business have the optimal foundations for long-term scalability.

Market developments

Since the beginning of H2 2020, the overall market opportunity has been broadly consistent with pre-COVID levels. Overall, our strong performance in the period reflects our continued investment for growth, alongside the quality of our people, service offering, and highly diversified client base. We hope successful vaccine roll-outs in our key geographies and normalisation of trading relationships post-Brexit, will all underpin the higher activity levels across our client base that we have seen since June 2020.

Financial Review

In the six months to 30 June 2021 revenue increased by 90% over the prior period to £34.2m with strong growth across all divisions. In addition to the segmental analysis in note 3, which is based on legal entities, the Group segments the revenue between FX Risk Management and Alternative Banking to reflect the two main drivers of growth.

The FX Risk Management division focuses on supporting corporates and institutions that trade currency for commercial purposes through the Group's sales teams located in London, Toronto and Amsterdam. Revenue in the 6 months to June 2001 grew by 48% over the prior period to £24.7m supported by a broad recovery in client activity post lockdown.

The Alternative Banking division focuses on providing corporates and institutions with a suite of alternative banking solutions covering payments, collections and accounts across the UK, Europe and Canada. The service is primarily offered by Alpha Platform Solutions, a division of Alpha FX Limited although there are increasing cross-selling contributions from the corporate and institutional sales teams, who are primarily focused on FX Risk Management. The Alternative Banking division generated revenue of £9.5m in the period (H1 2020: £1.4m).

As shown in note 3 of the Interim Report, total revenue from hedging products (forwards and options), has increased against the prior period from £11.8m to £17.1m. The revenue from forward transactions represents the difference between the rate charged to clients and the rate paid to banking counterparties. There were no structural changes in forward commission rates in the year in comparison to the prior year. Spot and payments revenue increased from £6.2m to £17.1m due to the growth of Alpha Platform Solutions together with increased spot flow from the Institutional business, where underlying activities mean that spot transactions are more common.

In the six months to 30 June 2021, 60% of the revenue in the year was derived from products where the revenue is converted into cash within a few days of the trade date, as opposed to 51% in FY 2020. This has continued to have a positive impact on the Group's cashflow.

In the prior year the Group entered into a settlement agreement with a Norwegian client whereby weekly repayments are due until June 2022 in respect of their obligations for unpaid margin totalling £30.2m. Throughout the current period the client has continued to meet their settlement agreement cash repayment obligations on time with a gross balance of £13.3m outstanding as at 30 June 2021.

As we continue to receive the weekly repayments from the Norwegian client, the results have benefited from the reversal of the two accounting provisions. For the 6 months to 30 June 2021 the reversal of the two accounting provisions total £471,000 and can be broken down as follows:

·    A provision for the estimated probability of default which reduced by £153,000 in the 6 months to June 2021 with the credit included in operating expenses. The outstanding provision as at 30 June 2021 was £117,000.

·    A provision representing the difference between the nominal value of future payments and their net present value which reduced by £318,000 in the 6 months to June 2021 with the credit included in finance income. The outstanding provision as at 30 June 2021 was £244,000

Underlying profit is presented in the income statement to allow a better understanding of the Group's financial performance on a comparable basis from year to year. The underlying profit excludes the impact of share-based payments, and on this basis, the underlying profit before tax in the year increased by 214% to £15.4m.

The underlying profit before tax margin for the period increased to 45% (H1 2020 27%). However, in the second half of 2021 with the impact of COVID-19 subsiding, the margin will likely be impacted by an acceleration in hiring, a normalised travel and entertaining spend and the opening of the Italy office.

Underlying basic earnings per share were 27.9p in the period (H1 2020: 9.5p) whilst basic earnings per share were 27.6p (H1 2020: 8.9p).

Cash flow

On a statutory basis, net cash and cash equivalents increased in the first half by £3.1m to £86.1m. The Group's cash position can fluctuate significantly from period to period due to the impact of changes in the collateral received from clients, early settlement of trades, or the unrealised mark to market profit or loss from client swaps, resulting in an increase or decrease in cash with a corresponding change in other payables and trade receivables. Therefore, in addition to the statutory cash flow, the Group presents an adjusted net cash summary below which excludes the above items.

In the period to June 2021 adjusted net cash on this basis has increased by £14.3m to £66.6m. This represents the net impact of the cash conversion from the trading in the period together with the cash inflow of £6.7m from the client subject to a repayment plan.

* Included in 'other payables' within 'trade and other payables'

** Excluding collateral received from clients, early settlements and the unrealised mark to market profit or loss from client swaps

Dividend

With the Group's growth expectations once again consistent with pre-COVID levels, the Board now deem it appropriate to readopt a progressive dividend policy.

Subsequently, the Board is pleased to declare an interim dividend of 3.0 pence per share (2020: nil). The interim dividend will be payable on 8 October 2021 to shareholders on the register at 10 September 2021. The ex-dividend date is 9 September 2021.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position