The Board of Hydrogen Group plc (“Hydrogen Group” or the “Group”) (AIM: HYDG) announces its unaudited results for the half year ended 30 June 2020.
Highlights
· Key priority remains the safety of our staff and other stakeholders
· Trading during the period was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic
· NFI decreased by 24% to £11.7m (H1 2019: £15.3m)
o Contract NFI fell by 20% to £4.9m (H1 2019: £6.1m)
o Permanent NFI fell 26% to £6.8m (H1 2019: £9.2m)
o Group contract margin however continued to increase to 12.6% (H1 2019: 11.2%)
· Underlying* Profit Before Tax (“PBT”) decreased by 79% to £0.4m (H1 2019: £1.9m) and profit conversion of Net Fee Income** (“NFI”) decreased to 3.3% (H1 2019: 12.1%) reflecting the operational leverage in the Group
· Statutory PBT decreased by 93% to £0.1m (H1 2019: £1.4m)
· Strong net cash of £6.5m at 30 June 2019 (31 December 2019: £4.5m and 30 June 2019: £3.4m)
· Underlying EPS*** in the period decreased by 3.8p, 81%, to 0.9p (H1 2019: 4.7p)
· Reported EPS in the period decreased to 0.0p (H1 2019: 3.6p)
· Cancellation of dividend (2019: 0.6p per share)
Post period end
· The proposed cancellation of Hydrogen Group’s listing on AIM and accompanying tender offer for its shares announced today in a circular to shareholders
* Adjusted for foreign exchange (gains)/losses, share based payments, non-controlling loss/(interest), amortisation of acquired intangibles and exceptional items.
** Net Fee Income is the equivalent of gross profit
*** Underlying PBT less tax divided by weighted average number of shares
Commenting, Ian Temple, CEO of Hydrogen Group plc said:
“In common with most companies in our sector the first half of 2020 has been a challenging period for Hydrogen Group. As we have navigated the business through the Covid-19 pandemic our priority has been to do everything we can to ensure that our staff, clients and candidates are as safe as possible, while also focusing on maintaining the strength of our balance sheet by preserving cash.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff for their exceptional commitment and hard work over the period.”
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