Fintel upbeat after year filled with acquisitions

Financial technology and support service specialist Fintel described a resilient full-year performance in a trading update on Tuesday, with results expected to meet its expectations.

The AIM-traded company said it achieved 6% growth in adjusted EBITDA, reaching £20.5m, as it maintained a strong balance sheet with £12.7m in cash and £69m in available credit.

Its core revenue increased slightly to £56.6m, with core software-as-a-service (SaaS) and subscription revenue rising by 2%.

The company made four acquisitions during 2023, with combined core revenue from them amounting to £1.5m.

Two more acquisitions were completed in January.

The board said the acquisition of Synaptic Software, which was conditionally agreed in December for net upfront cash of £3.5m, received regulatory approval in late January and had been successfully completed.

Fintel said it planned to invest £0.5m in development to enhance and integrate Synaptic’s products into its service offerings.

The company also announced the acquisition of Owen James Events in late January, funded entirely from cash reserves with a net upfront cash consideration of £0.7m.

That acquisition was expected to extend Fintel's industry events programme and data and insights strategy through Owen James' market position.

Looking ahead, Fintel said it expected its core business to continue delivering resilient earnings in line with board expectations for 2023.

The company said it expected to benefit from a recovery in the mortgage market in 2024, adding that it remained well-positioned to support financial intermediaries and product providers in evidencing suitability during the financial product development and sales lifecycle.

“In 2023 we made significant strategic progress, increased our scale, and reach through the acquisition of four businesses to our platform, and delivered a resilient financial performance in line with expectations,” said joint chief executive officer Matt Timmins.

“We have demonstrated continued evidence of our capacity and ability to drive organic growth, source and execute complementary acquisitions, and invest in our technology and data propositions.

“In line with our strategy, we are completely focused on consolidating a fragmented market to enhance our scale, proposition, and intellectual property, as we continue to inspire better outcomes for UK retail financial services.”

Timmins noted that the company was welcoming “yet another market leader” in Owen James Events, a business “with huge potential”, and its sixth acquisition in 12 months.

“We are confident of delivering further progress in the year ahead as we continue to scale our proposition, realise our very active merger and acquisition pipeline and invest in our service and technology platform, with our growth underpinned by recurring incomes and positive structural market drivers.”

Fintel said it would announce its full-year results for the 12 months ended 31 December on 19 March.

At 1115 GMT, shares in Fintel were down 6.31% at 245p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.