Pre-Close Statement
10 October 2005
Jelf Group plc, an established corporate intermediary, will be announcing its preliminary results for the year ended 30th September 2005 on 26th January 2006. The Board is pleased to provide the following update and to confirm that trading is in line with expectations for the full year; the Group's first full year as a listed company on AIM.
Since the Group's flotation on 21 October 2005, The Jelf Group has actively pursued its buy and build strategy focusing on the West Country and Wales, offering a range of corporate services principally in the areas of commercial insurance, healthcare, employee benefits and financial planning. Today the Group
operates from 8 offices, advising over 6,000 corporate clients.
During the year the Group has made solid progress against all its objectives, not only in delivering strong organic growth, but also through making a number of strategic appointments and acquisitions utilising existing cash flows and
funds raised at the time of the flotation:
- December 2004: Managed Healthcare Ltd, an independent Somerset based brokerage specialising in healthcare and private medical insurance for a maximum consideration of £150,000;
- January 2005: recruitment of Somerset based, top independent
financial adviser Arnold Wills together with his team and acquisition of his
existing business book for an undisclosed sum from existing cash flows; - April 2005: appointment of Gina Dixon, formerly of Julian Hodge Bank, to head up the Group's new commercial insurance proposition in Wales, together with her five account executives; securing the Jelf Group's position as one of the premier corporate intermediaries in Wales;
- May 2005: acquisition of the Taunton based operations of RK Harrison Insurance together with recruitment of its successful insurance team of seven people for a maximum consideration of £0.98m from existing cash flows and funds raised at the time of flotation;
- June 2005: Acquisition of the financial services business of Crowther Beard LLP, a firm of accountants, for a maximum consideration of £150,000.
As the team and client base have grown, so have the opportunities for cross-selling which continues to gather momentum. It was in response to client demand, therefore, that the Group added a fourth arm to its operations during the year with the launch of a separate Commercial Finance broking arm. The Commercial Finance arm is under the management of Colin Hall-Tomkin who was previously a senior corporate banker with Barclays and Bank of Ireland. It focuses on providing independent professional advice on how and where the Group's corporate clients should source asset finance, invoice discounting and a wide range of property related loan facilities.
The Board is pleased to report that the new teams and acquisitions are being successfully integrated into the Group and that trading across all areas continues to be strong. The Board looks forward to providing a more detailed report at the time of the preliminary results in January and looks forward to the coming year with confidence.
Further information from:
Jelf Group PLC
Alex Alway (Group Chief Executive)
Tel: 01454 272727
Redleaf Communications
Tel: 020 7955 1410
Emma Kane/Sanna Lehtinen
Mob: 07876 338339