LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Begbies Traynor posted a 10th consecutive year of growth on Tuesday, with full-year revenue and profits ahead of market expectations and a new share buyback programme aimed at offsetting future share option dilution.
Revenue for the year ended 30 April rose 12% to £153.7m, with 10% of that coming from organic growth.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to £31.7m, while adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £23.5m from £22m.

Statutory profit before tax more than doubled to £11.5m, and free cash flow climbed 56% to £19.4m.

The group ended the period with a net cash position of £0.9m, compared to net debt of £1.4m the previous year.

"I am pleased to report a further successful year for the group, representing 10 consecutive years of profitable growth, during which we have tripled the size of the business with a six-fold increase in adjusted profit before tax," said executive chairman Ric Traynor.

"Our results are ahead of original market consensus expectations in terms of revenue, EBITDA and net cash."

Both the group's divisions - business recovery and advisory, and property advisory - contributed to the performance.

The business recovery arm benefited from a higher volume of large cases and continued growth in its advisory business, which had tripled in size since 2020.

In property advisory, the group reported strong growth in auctions and has become one of the UK's leading auction houses by number of lots.

The board proposed a total dividend of 4.3p, up 8% year-on-year and marking the eighth consecutive year of dividend growth.

"Looking forward, activity levels are encouraging with positive momentum across the group... we currently expect revenue will be at the upper end of the range of market expectations," Traynor added.

Alongside the results, Begbies Traynor announced a share buyback programme of up to one million shares to offset anticipated dilution from staff option exercises and deferred consideration.

The repurchases would be conducted on the open market by Canaccord Genuity on a broker-managed basis between 8 July and 8 September.

Begbies' board said the buyback reflected its confidence in the company's strong cash generation, balance sheet and long-term prospects, and represented a good use of capital while retaining firepower for further acquisitions.

At 0918 BST, shares in Begbies Traynor Group were up 7.84% at 119.7p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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