Chester ID verification specialist GB Group has made a pre-tax loss of £24,000 for the six months to September 30, 2022, despite the group’s revenue increasing from £109.1m to £133.8m.
The results compare to a profit of £14.3m in the same period last year, and come despite a soar in valuation over the summer following high profile takeover rumours by a US private equity firm which were ultimately quashed in October.
The group remained bullish despite the apparently disappointing results. Chief executive Chris Clark said in its statement to the LSE: “Excellent strategic progress has been made across the group over the past six months as we maintain our relentless focus to deliver against our long-term growth strategy, bringing our market leading location, identity and fraud solutions together to address the ever-growing needs of customers in the digital world.
“The macro uncertainties have been well publicised, but with world class technology, a diversified blue chip customer base and our strong cash generative business model, the board remains confident in the long-term prospects of the business.”
The group statement went on: “The start to the second half of the financial year has been in line with our expectations despite macroeconomic pressures impacting some of our end markets.”
It added that cryptocurrency and the internet economy, which had seen the biggest slowdown over the year-to-date, have now begun to normalise, and that the environment for customers in more traditional sectors such as banking, pensions and insurance, had remained relatively stable over the period.
“We also expect to continue to benefit from foreign currency translation tailwinds that increased our first half reported revenue by 7%. At prevailing currency rates, we would expect this tailwind for the second half growth rate to be around 6%,” it went on.
“The board remains highly confident in the long-term opportunity. We believe GBG’s services are crucial for our customers to operate safely and efficiently in a digital world, underpinning the resilience of our business and outlook from an ever-increasing business presence online. We look forward to discussing the long-term growth opportunities.”
