Personal Group Holdings PLC (LON:PGH), the employee benefits and services provider, believes it is well-placed to capitalise on an increased focus on employee wellbeing.
Protecting employees' health and wellbeing became a key focus for all employers in 2020 and with 72% of UK managers naming wellbeing as a top priority in 2021, the company said its three divisions stand ready to help them deliver on this.
In a trading update covering the whole of 2020, the group said that after a solid first-half performance, it continued to trade robustly in the second half of the year during what it described as “a most challenging period”.
Revenues for 2020 are expected to be broadly in line with the year before while adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to be north of £9.5mln, compared to £11.0mln the year before, reflecting a change in revenue mix.
The debt-free group ended the year with around £20mln of cash, up from £17mln a year earlier.
Personal Group said trends in its insurance division, which provides hospital plans and death benefits, have been consistent since the onset of the pandemic, with retention rates for existing policyholders remaining strong.
Claims levels have remained broadly in line with previous years, despite an increase in claims related to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Physical distancing requirements severely hindered the company’s ability to sell policies face-to-face but its new virtual insurance solution has shown encouraging initial results.
The “Let’s Connect” division, which specialises in the provision of home technology via salary sacrifice, was affected by supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic but demand for the division’s services remains healthy.
Personal Group’s software as a service (SaaS) division benefited from the recurring revenues that are a feature of the model, with revenues relatively unaffected in the second half of the year.
With further government lockdowns ongoing, 2021 is expected to see a more significant financial impact on both income and profit as the restrictions reduce the ability to write new insurance sales and the historic impact from 2020 flows through, Personal Group said.
“Despite the challenge to our traditional business model, we've delivered robust financial results and made clear strategic progress in the period, with a number of key clients wins. In addition, we've enhanced our technical and operational capability, setting us up well for rebuilding for the long term,” said Deborah Frost, the chief executive of Personal Group in the trading update.
“We now see organisations appreciating their responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their staff, not just as a method to increase productivity but as a core element of their ESG [environmental, social and governance[ agendas and business resilience. Personal Group is an expert in this market and is well-positioned to help businesses deliver on their plans, whatever the structure of their workforce," she added.