EQUALS GROUP PLC

Earnings Release • Jul 5, 2022

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RNS Number : 2766R

Equals Group PLC

05 July 2022

For immediate release	5 July 2022

Equals Group plc

('Equals' or the 'Group')

H1-2022 Trading Update

Notice of Interim Results

"84% growth in revenue and continued strong product uptake"

Equals Group plc (AIM:EQLS), a leading fintech payments group focused on the SME marketplace, is pleased to provide the following trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2022 ('H1-2022' or the 'Period').

The Group announces a record breaking six months of trading with revenues up 84% at £31.3 million (H1-2021: £16.9 million).  Based on the number of working days (123), revenue in H1-2022 was £252.0k per day, up 87% on H1-2021 (£136.3k).

Gross profits for the Period have been estimated at £15.0 million up 47% on H1-2021 (£10.2 million). Gross profit margins were, in the aggregate, 48.2% which compares well to the 50.6% in H2-2021. Excluding the White-label business of Equals Connect, the gross profit margins were 59% in H1-2022 against 60% in H2-2021.

Cash balances, after earnouts paid in the Period of £1.2 million, rose to £15.1 million (30 June 2021: £10.1 million).

As Equals continues to re-shape its business and leverage its increasingly wide product portfolio, the Group has disclosed its revenues as a matrix, showing revenue by customer group and revenue by product type:

REVENUE in £ millions	Consumer and small business	Corporates	Large enterprises	Sub-total	White-label	TOTAL H1-2022	H1-2021
International payments	2.0	7.1	-	9.1	7.0	16.1	9.8
Cards	2.2	3.3		5.5	-	5.5	3.9
Banking	2.8	-	-	2.8	-	2.8	2.8
Solutions			6.2	6.2	-	6.2	0.3
Travel cash	0.5	-	-	0.5	-	0.5	0.1
Total, H1-2022	7.5	10.4	6.2	24.1	7.0	31.1	16.9
Total, H1-2021	5.9	8.3	0.3	14.5	2.4	16.9
% CHANGES*
H1-22 to H1-21	+26%	+25%	>200%	+66%	+200%	+84%

* based on underlying figures

The Group now expects Adjusted EBITDA for FY-2022 to be ahead of current market expectations.

In addition to the strong financial performance, Equals, as a fintech, continues to invest in its product development, customer marketing, front-office staff resources and compliance capabilities. The Group also estimates that its compliance function, along with the tools it uses, incurs expenditure of around £1.6 million per year.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are extremely pleased to see an 84% increase in our revenues in the first half with all segments performing exceptionally well.  We believe that our revenues are highly 'inflation-resistant' and that this should be beneficial for the Group and our Shareholders in the second half of 2022 and beyond.  We will be releasing our interim results in early September and we look forward to further updating the market on our progress then."

Notice of Interim Results

The Group announces that it will report its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2022 on Wednesday, 7 September 2022.  The Group will also provide an update on trading in Q3 2022.

The Group welcomes sell-side analysts to join a conference call at 09:30am on the day of results, which will be hosted by Ian Strafford-Taylor (CEO) and Richard Cooper (CFO).  Please contact Buchanan at equals@buchanan.uk.com if you would like to receive the dial in details.

For retail investors, an audio webcast of the meeting will be made available on the Group's investor relations website (www.equalsplc.com) after 12pm on the day of results.  A link will be provided in the Interim Results statement.

This announcement contains inside information.

- Ends -

For more information, please contact:

Equals Group plc
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO Richard Cooper, CFO	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7778 9308 www.equalsplc.com
Canaccord Genuity (Nominated Advisor / Broker)
Max Hartley / Georgina McCooke Alex Aylen (Sales)	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523 8150
Buchanan (Financial Communications)
Henry Harrison-Topham / Steph Whitmore / Toto Berger equals@buchanan.uk.com	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000 www.buchanan.uk.com

Notes to Editors:

Equals Group is a technology-led international payments group augmented by highly personalised service for the payment needs of SME's whether these be FX, card payments or via Faster Payments. Founded in 2007, the Group listed on AIM in 2014 and currently employs around 265 staff across sites in London and Chester.  For more information, please visit www.equalsplc.com.

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