Pre-close Trading Update and Notice of Results
Gateley (AIM: GTLY), the legal and professional services group, is pleased to provide further detail of the Group's trading, ahead of the publication of its audited results for the year ended 30 April 2021 ("FY21") and following its initial update on 6 May 2021.
The Group entered the second half of the year ("H2 21") with high activity levels, strong trading momentum, and a sense of optimism and confidence, despite the ongoing uncertainty brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Trading continued to improve throughout H2 21, resulting in the Group generating revenue for H2 21 of not less than £69.5m, an increase of more than 20% over the previous year. Revenue for FY21 will be not less than £120m (FY20: £109.8m), an increase of more than 9.3% for the year as a whole.
Prudent cost and cash management measures, initiated by the Board at the start of the pandemic and augmented by the stronger than anticipated H2 trading, have yielded a net cash position at 30 April 2021 of £20m, significantly ahead of management's previous expectations. The Group expects to report FY21 profit before tax of not less than £16.0m, compared with £14.8m for FY20, an increase of not less than 8.1%.
The Group is recommencing dividend payments to shareholders in line with its previous policy of distributing up to 70% of profit after tax, and the Board will propose a dividend for FY21 in the Group's Final Results announcement on 13 July 2021. The Board is pleased to declare today that the interim dividend of 2.5p per ordinary share, disclosed in the Group's Trading Update announced on 6 May 2021, will be paid on 28 June 2021 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 4 June 2021. The corresponding ex-dividend date is 3 June 2021.
Rod Waldie, Chief Executive Officer of Gateley, said:
"I am delighted with this excellent performance, which is testament to our culture and the contribution of everyone working at Gateley, without whose commitment we would not have been able to deliver such a strong result. I thank the whole team for their hard work, diligence, and resilience, in the face of what has been an unprecedented period.
I also thank our clients for their support throughout FY21 and for giving us the opportunity to work with them on high quality mandates. This has been a turbulent year for all of our stakeholders but our diverse and highly regarded legal and consultancy offering has enabled us to continue to provide excellent service to our clients whilst growing our business. We are carrying a strong pipeline of work into FY22 and are looking forward to continuing to grow the Group, both organically and via acquisition."
Mentioned in this update
