Financial review
Overview
Revenue
Revenue for the year from continuing
operations was £122.5m (2021: £21.8m),
after excluding the discontinued
operations of Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
With the exception of China, where there
remains considerable disruption to event
schedules, the Group successfully ran
a full schedule of events in FY22, with
29 (2021: 14) in-person events taking place
in the year (excluding events in Russia,
Ukraine and Turkey) after COVID-19-
related restrictions were lifted in the
majority of the Group’s markets by the
end of FY21.
The pace of in-person event recovery
accelerated throughout the financial
year. Despite disruption caused by the
Omicron variant in the first half of the
year, revenues when compared with FY19
pro-forma revenues were 70%
1
in the first
half. This increased in the second half to
more than 100%
1
, excluding the Group’s
events in China
2
in the final quarter of the
financial year which did not take place
due to COVID-19-related restrictions.
Overall, the revenue delivered in FY22
represents c.85%
1
of FY19 revenues on
a pro-forma basis, or more than 90%
1
excluding China
2
. A number of the
Group’s largest events outperformed
their pre-COVID-19 editions, including
Shoptalk and Groceryshop in the US,
Mining Indaba in South Africa and
Breakbulk Europe in the Netherlands.
The Group also ran 14 tech-enabled
programmes in FY22, including its first
Fintech Meetup event and seven
121 Mining Investment programmes
following the acquisition of the businesses
in November 2021 and March 2022
respectively.
Loss before tax
The Group reported a loss before tax
from continuing operations of £31.0m
(2021: £27.5m), after including adjusting
items of £42.4m (2021: £41.4m).
Headline profit before tax
3
is an
alternative performance measure used
by the Group to measure underlying
trading performance. After excluding
adjusting items, headline profit before tax
from continuing operations was £11.5m
(2021: £13.9m). Excluding the impact of
insurance proceeds received of £19.3m
(2021: £65.0m), the Group’s headline
profits would have increased by £43.3m,
which reflects the strong recovery of the
Group’s events.
Earnings per share (EPS)
Basic and diluted EPS from continuing
operations were (8.6)p (2021: (8.3p)).
Headline diluted EPS
3
from continuing
operations was 4.2p (2021: 4.9p),
primarily reflecting the reduced
insurance proceeds received in the
year. Please refer to note 11 to the
consolidated accounts.
Financing and liquidity
Adjusted net debt
3
at the year end has
decreased to £71.0m (2021: £79.9m),
with the Group delivering a positive
operating cash flow even when excluding
the impact of insurance proceeds. Net
operating cash inflows of £26.3m (2021:
£27.2m) and the net proceeds from the
share placement and share subscription
of £28.1m, were partially offset by the
initial and deferred consideration paid for
the acquisitions of 121 Group and Fintech
Meetup of £34.2m.
Net debt
3
, including the Group’s lease
liabilities, was £86.3m (2020: £96.6m).
At 30 September 2022, £101.0m (2021:
£124.4m) of a total available £201.0m
(2021: £212.8m) was drawn on the Group’s
banking facility. Bank loans presented in
the statement of financial position are
£99.1m (2021: £121.6m), net of £1.9m (2021:
£2.8m) of capitalised borrowing costs.
At 30 September 2022, the Group’s
banking facilities comprised a £150.0m
(2021: £150.0m) revolving credit facility
and a term loan of £51.0m (2021: £62.8m).
During the year, the Group repaid £11.8m
on its term loan. As at 30 September
2022, there were further scheduled
repayments of the term loan of £6.0m in
November 2022, £22.5m in November
2023 and a final repayment of £22.5m
on the termination date.
In November 2021 we extended the
previously obtained leverage ratio and
interest cover covenant waivers from
March 2022 to March 2023, with a
minimum liquidity level of £40.0m
required at the end of each month.
At 30 September 2022 the Group had
cash and undrawn facilities of £129.6m
(2021: £130.1m) and therefore had
headroom of £89.6m in respect of
the minimum liquidity test.
In October 2022, the Group completed
the refinancing of its debt facilities.
The new facilities, totalling £135.0m,
comprise a £115.0m term loan and
£20.0m revolving credit facility. The
£101.0m that was drawn on the previous
facility was repaid in full on 20 October
2022, with the new term loan of £115.0m
being fully drawn on the same date.
Under the new facilities a minimum
liquidity covenant of £21.0m is in place
up to and including August 2023.
Thereafter, a leverage ratio applies,
flatlining at 3x. Please refer to note 20
to the consolidated accounts.
1
Recovery is assessed with reference to pro forma
FY19 revenues. The FY19 revenues have been
adjusted to include the FY19 results of acquisitions
made since September 2019 and to exclude the
FY19 results of businesses that have since been
disposed of. The FY22 revenues are after excluding
discontinued operations in respect of Russia,
Ukraine and Turkey.
2 As no events were able to run in China in the year,
FY22 China revenues were £nil. The FY19 revenues
for China have been removed to show the recovery
level of events that were able to run during the year.
3 As defined in the Glossary on pages 209 to 212.
Headline reconciliation
In addition to the statutory results,
headline results are presented, which
are the statutory results after excluding
a number of adjusting items, as the
Board considers this to be the most
appropriate way to measure the Group’s
performance. In addition to providing
a more comparable set of results
year-on-year, this is also in line with
similar adjusted measures used by our
peer companies and therefore facilitates
comparison across the industry.
The adjusting items presented are
consistent with those disclosed in the
previous year. The adjusting items have
been presented separately in order to
report what the Board considers to be the
most appropriate measure of underlying
performance of the Group and to provide
additional information to users of the
annual report.
Strategic report
Governance
Financial statements
35
Annual Report and Accounts 2022
Hyve Group plc