Sanne CEO calls time but trading remains strong

Financial sector outsourcer Sanne Group reported "strong" trading in the second half of the year and into early 2019 but revealed that its chief executive will retire in four months' time.

The FTSE 250 group, which provides outsource corporate and administration services for hedge funds and other financial institutions, said chief executive Dean Godwin would step down at May's annual shareholder meeting, with chief commercial officer Martin Schnaier appointed CEO designate with immediate effect so he can take over.

Godwin has led Sanne for seven years, in which time he floated the business in 2015 and has seen underlying operating profit swell by more than 600%.

For the past calendar year all the company would say in its pre-close statement was that performance had been "strong", with full year revenues in line with board expectations thanks to the traditional second-half weighting, where the Alternatives and Corporate businesses outperformed to offset continued headwinds for the South African hedge platform and the private client business.

As well as record new business with sales wins representing around £13m of additional annualised revenue, the second half also saw an improvement in underlying operating margins, reflecting emerging benefits from previous investment in people, processes and systems.

"This improvement remained modest however as a result of additional investment made to improve Sanne's Private Client business, as well as supporting the strong growth in the Alternatives business," it said.

As a result of the revenue and margin performance, underlying profit before tax is expected to be "broadly in line" with expectations.

The strong performance across the Alternatives and Corporate businesses in the second half has continued in early 2019, Sanne said, with the group expanding its fastest growing region, Asia-Pacific, with a new office opening in Japan this month.

"Given this strong momentum into 2019, coupled with the continued growth in levels of new business wins, the board remains confident in the group's prospects for 2019."