24 November 2021

Marlowe plc

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Marlowe plc ("Marlowe" or the "Group"), the UK leader in business-critical services and software which assure regulatory compliance, provides the following trading update ahead of publication of the Group's interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2021 on 1 December 2021.

Trading Update and Outlook

Trading in the first half of the financial year was strong and the Group now expects to report FY 2022 full year results ahead of current market expectations as a result of strong organic growth and the successful execution during FY 2022 to date of our Deepen, Broaden, Strengthen and Digitalise compliance software and service strategy:

·      H1 FY 2022 Group revenue up 61% to £134.5 million.

·      Organic revenue growth of 15%1, 8% when adjusting for COVID impact²

·      H1 FY 2022 Divisional adjusted EBITDA³ margin increased 300 bps to 17.8%

·      H1 FY 2022 Adjusted EPS up 50% to 16.0p

·      H1 FY 2022 Adjusted profit before tax up 127% to £15.2 million

A Record Period for Acquisitions

·   Twelve acquisitions completed during H1 FY 2022 for a total initial consideration of £76.5 million, adding approximately £11.4 million of adjusted EBITDA³

·  Three software acquisitions increasing SaaS annual recurring revenues to c.£35 million, in line with Digitalise strategy

·   Four acquisitions completed so far in H2 FY 2022, deploying total initial consideration of £95.5 million, adding approximately £9.4 million of adjusted EBITDA³

Current group run rate annualised revenue is c. £335 million and run rate annualised adjusted EBITDA³ is approximately £60 million.

The second half of the financial year has started well, with strong demand experienced across the business, the integration programmes of all completed acquisitions remaining on track with synergies being achieved in line with expectations. In addition, the Group's pipeline of earnings-enhancing acquisitions is buoyant.

The Group now expects to materially overachieve against FY 2024 target run rate revenue of c.£500 million and adjusted EBITDA³  of c.£100 million.

1 Organic revenue growth % on a like-for-like basis is defined as the year-on-year growth of our entire business. This includes the growth or decline of acquisitions from the day of completion, by including their performance for the corresponding prior period.

² Organic growth is adjusted by an estimated (7)% to reflect the COVID impact on TIC division in prior year - minimal impact was experienced in GRC division.

³ Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation ("EBITDA")

Notice of Half Year Results and Investor Presentation

Marlowe intends to announce its unaudited half year results for the period ended 30 September 2021 on 1 December 2021. Marlowe will host a virtual Half Year Results for investors and equity analysts on 1 December at 09:00 GMT.

A link to the event is here.

A video replay of the presentation will be available through the Marlowe website post-event. 

For further information:

About Marlowe plc

Marlowe is a UK leader in business-critical services and software which assure regulatory compliance. The company was formed to create sustainable shareholder value through the acquisition and development of businesses that provide regulated safety and compliance services and software. It is focused on compliance software, eLearning, health & safety, employment law & HR compliance, fire safety & security, water & air hygiene and occupational health services - all of which are vital to the wellbeing of its customers operations and are invariably governed by regulation. Marlowe currently provides software to over 1 million users and services to over 25% of Britain's commercial premises. The Group provides customers with a single outsourced, nationwide, provider of a range of regulated compliance and safety solutions. Our customers can be found in office complexes, high streets & leisure facilities, manufacturing plants and industrial estates, and include thousands of SMEs, local authorities, facilities management providers, multi-site NHS trusts and FTSE 100 companies.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 (as amended), which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.