PRE-CLOSE TRADING STATEMENT
22 October 2007
Jelf Group plc, an independent full-service brokerage that supports businesses and related individuals, will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 30 September, 2007 in late January, 2008.
The board is pleased to provide the following update and to confirm that trading results are in line with expectations for the full year.
MARKET CONDITIONS
Jelf continues to operate in a competitive insurance market and is working to offset these conditions through a multi-pronged approach:
- capturing benefits from economies of scale
- generating income via cross-selling to existing clients and through new business activity
- seeking internal productivity gains from the use of technology
“We believe that there is some evidence of insurance rate increases emerging in the market. A programme of migrating our insurance business onto one single administration system is ahead of expectations, providing a platform for future expansion. We now have in excess of £1 billion of funds under advice through our employee benefits and wealth management businesses, of which over £100 million has been transferred across to industry fund/wrap platforms,” comments Alex Alway, chief executive of Jelf Group.
GROWTH STRATEGY
During the year, Jelf Group has continued to make good progress against its twin objectives of delivering strong profitable growth organically and through selective acquisitions:
- * Organic growth - Jelf has continued to see strong organic growth from cross-selling opportunities within the enlarged group, particularly robust within employee benefits and healthcare
- * Acquisitions - Jelf is focusing on acquiring profitable insurance and healthcare corporate books, also looking to acquire financial services talent.
Jelf Group has made good progress to reduce its net debt position following the Lampier acquisition and confidently expects to finance all expected deferred consideration payments from operational cash flows.
KEY ACQUISITIONS
Key acquisitions during the financial year were:
- January 2007
- SPS Wellbeing (SPS), corporate healthcare broker
- Adds £80m of Gross Written Premiums (GWP) in corporate healthcare insurance brokerage, consolidating Jelf Group's position as a leading healthcare intermediary.
- The integration of SPS and Jelf Corporate Healthcare to form Jelf Wellbeing has now taken place ahead of the original integration plan.
- The business is performing in line with expectations.
- · July 2007
- Lampier, insurance broker with specialist professional indemnity business
- Increases Jelf Group's total insurance GWP by £35m to £150m and consolidates the group's position as a leading independent insurance brokerage.
- This business is performing in line with expectations.
The board will provide a detailed trading report when it announces preliminary results in January 2008 and looks forward to the coming year with confidence.
Contact:
Jelf Group plc
01454 272 713
Alex Alway, Group Chief Executive
Pelham PR
Polly Fergusson
0207 743 6362
Daniel Stewart
Alastair Cade
0207 776 6550