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RBG trading 'well', reinstates full-year guidance
6th Oct 2020 13:17
(Sharecast News) - Professional services company RBG updated the market on its trading and reinstated its guidance on Tuesday, reporting that since its interim results were released on 16 September, its law firm Rosenblatt had continued to trade well, with case value and volumes remaining "significantly ahead" year-on-year.
The AIM-traded firm said that positive performance was partially offset by the lack of litigation investment sales in its newly-formed litigation finance business, LionFish Litigation Finance.
It said there was also a lower-than-expected contribution from Convex Capital due to Covid-19, as the pandemic had resulted in a "substantial portion" of that division's mergers and acquisitions pipeline being delayed until the second half of the 2020 financial year.
"The board is now able to report that Convex Capital has since supported the sale of Nutravet, a fast-growing animal healthcare company, for which it received a fee in excess of £1.2m," the board said on Tuesday.
"Furthermore, LionFish has now concluded the realisation of two of its investment assets for a total of £1.1m.
"The board remains encouraged by the growing pipeline of opportunities across all divisions."
RBG said the completion of the transaction by Convex Capital and the realisation of litigation investments by LionFish, as well as having completed nine months of trading, gave it improved visibility of its financial performance for the year as a whole.
As a result, the directors said they were in a position to reinstate guidance for the year ending 31 December.
They said that, based on the current management forecasts, RBG was now expecting group revenue and realised gains to be between £24m and £26m, rising from the £23.7m reported in 2019.
"Given the continuing uncertainty over Covid-19 and its possible impact on the higher-margin businesses within the group, the board will make a decision regarding the payment of an interim dividend when it has further visibility on the year-end position."
At 1305 BST, shares in RBG Holdings were up 6.72% at 65.1p.
The AIM-traded firm said that positive performance was partially offset by the lack of litigation investment sales in its newly-formed litigation finance business, LionFish Litigation Finance.
It said there was also a lower-than-expected contribution from Convex Capital due to Covid-19, as the pandemic had resulted in a "substantial portion" of that division's mergers and acquisitions pipeline being delayed until the second half of the 2020 financial year.
"The board is now able to report that Convex Capital has since supported the sale of Nutravet, a fast-growing animal healthcare company, for which it received a fee in excess of £1.2m," the board said on Tuesday.
"Furthermore, LionFish has now concluded the realisation of two of its investment assets for a total of £1.1m.
"The board remains encouraged by the growing pipeline of opportunities across all divisions."
RBG said the completion of the transaction by Convex Capital and the realisation of litigation investments by LionFish, as well as having completed nine months of trading, gave it improved visibility of its financial performance for the year as a whole.
As a result, the directors said they were in a position to reinstate guidance for the year ending 31 December.
They said that, based on the current management forecasts, RBG was now expecting group revenue and realised gains to be between £24m and £26m, rising from the £23.7m reported in 2019.
"Given the continuing uncertainty over Covid-19 and its possible impact on the higher-margin businesses within the group, the board will make a decision regarding the payment of an interim dividend when it has further visibility on the year-end position."
At 1305 BST, shares in RBG Holdings were up 6.72% at 65.1p.