6 May 2021

Bilby plc

("Bilby" or the "Company")

Year-end trading update

Bilby Plc (AIM: BILB), the leading gas heating, electrical and building services provider, provides the following year-end update for the twelve months ending 31 March 2021.

Bilby continued delivering essential, regulation-driven maintenance and building services for its clients, despite the year being enveloped by the uncertainties stemming from Covid-19 and UK Government restrictions. Whilst the Company was impacted by often significant no access rates and delays, Bilby expects to report a solid performance for the financial year.

Bilby had a strong performance in the second half and, as a result, expects revenues of approximately £60 million for the full year ending March 2021.  However, margins were affected by higher operational costs arising from the increased no access rates and mix of works. Adjusted EBITDA for the second half of the year is expected to be comparable to the first half, delivering approximately £3 million for the full year ending March 2021.

Encouragingly, as we enter the new financial year, there is evidence that the improving Covid-19 situation is enabling our clients to plan more confidently for a return to "normality" and we look forward to this being reflected in our results moving forward.

The objective to reduce net debt remains a priority for the Group and we have continued our rigorous focus on working capital efficiencies, cash conversation and cost management. This has enabled us to repay an additional £2.3 million of our term loan - over and above the scheduled quarterly payments. Our banking partner, HSBC, has waived the requirement of covenant measurements for the first half of the year ending March 2022.

Over the last 18 months, net debt has significantly reduced by £8.4 million; as of 30 September 2019, net debt was £11.1 million and at 31 March 2021 was £2.7 million, net of cash balances of £1.3 million. At 31 March 2021, Bilby had deferred £1.0 million VAT liabilities which post year-end, in agreement with HMRC, have started to be paid. 

During the pandemic, we have continued to improve the efficiency of the operations and position the Company to proactively seek future growth opportunities supported by the stronger balance sheet. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in strategically realigning the Company to serve our stakeholders in a sustainable, profitable way in the future. The outcomes of this process will be communicated in more detail at the Full Year Results.

The Company will announce its Full Year Results for the year ending March 2021 in early July 2021.

Commenting on the results, David Bullen, Chief Executive of Bilby plc said:

"Our hard work, tenacity and commitment throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to the communities where we operate has demonstrated the reinvigorated strength of Bilby and robustly positioned us to look forward to the year ahead with great confidence.

I thank all my colleagues for their dedication, commitment and support during the challenging year in which they continued to deliver work to the highest standards in extremely difficult circumstances. It is these attributes that have produced these resilient results.

Our repositioning will clearly show that the Group is entering a new chapter with exciting growth opportunities.  We very much look forward to providing more detail on this at our Full Year Results in July."

Enquiries

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.