Ince FY revenues seen 'slightly' lower YOY, pre-tax profits to fall short of expectations

(Sharecast News) - Shares in legal and professional services outfit Ince slumped early on Monday after the group revealed full-year revenues had come in "slightly" lower year-on-year following "a challenging last quarter". Ince now expects revenues for the year ended 31 March to come in at roughly £97.0m, while pre-tax profits were also expected to be short of market expectations.

The AIM-listed group said adverse impacts to its performance ranged from the resurgence of Covid-19 in the UK from the end of November, lockdowns in Hong Kong and China, the Ukraine conflict, and a cyber attack mid-way through IT system migrations in mid-March.

Ince also noted that since the announcement of its offer to acquire corporate adviser and stockbroker Arden on 26 October, it had been bound by "tight regulatory conditions" in terms of communication with shareholders. However, with the acquisition eventually completed on 28 April, the company said it had begun to capitalise on identified synergies and cross-selling opportunities.

Ince added that it now sees it as being "unlikely" that its final audited results will be published before September.

Chief executive Adrian Biles said: "The final quarter of the 2021/22 financial year presented a number of challenges. It had been the board's intention to complete the Arden acquisition prior to the end of January 2022 but due to regulatory matters this was delayed until after the March 2022 balance sheet date.

"The UK's Covid-19 lockdown in December 2021 and January 2022 also had a negative effect on financial performance, as did similar issues in Asia, and on top of this, the group was extremely unfortunate in being victim to a cyber attack in March."

As of 0900 BST, Ince shares had slumped 18.68% to 19.11p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com