SimplyBiz earnings jump 50 per cent as hopes rise for strong year

SimplyBiz, the UK’s largest provider of compliance and business services to financial intermediaries, said it is confident and optimistic about 2020 following the rapid integration of leading financial information and technology business Defaqto.
SimplyBiz joint chief executive Neil StevensSimplyBiz joint chief executive Neil Stevens
SimplyBiz joint chief executive Neil Stevens

Huddersfield-based SimplyBiz said earnings jumped nearly 50 per cent to £17m in 2019.

Joint chief executive Neil Stevens said: “Defaqto has bedded down very well. The business has fully delivered all of the expectations we set out when we put the deal to shareholders to raise equity.

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“We’ve been very impressed with the team, the software, the customers relationships and the business is entirely aligned with the rest of the group so we’re over the moon.”

The firm said it is confident and optimistic about 2020 although it is guiding to marginally lower growth in revenues and earnings.

“We believe 2020 will be a positive year of strong growth for the company,” said Mr Stevens.

“However, we have guided down marginally against the expectations in the market. We will grow in 2020. It will be strong growth, both from organic business and from Defaqto.”

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SimplyBiz said it recognised “that external challenges facing all companies at this moment are still developing”.

When asked about these challenges, Mr Stevens said: “The external challenges mostly refer to the emerging outbreak of the coronavirus. It is a situation that is developing very fast. It is a global situation. I don’t believe any of us could really say it’s properly understood by the world.

“Our business is not affected and we have some great mitigation plans in place, but it would be reckless not to acknowledge that the situation is emerging in real time.”

The mitigation plans include staff working remotely and the use of digital events to replace face to face conferences.

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“We have a very strong operational platform, including cloud-based infrastructure. All of our staff can work remotely,” said Mr Stevens.

“We also have a very robust and tested digital events platform. We run a lot of events around the country every year. People would prefer to come to those face to face. Very few of them have more than 75 attendees so they would not constitute mass gatherings under the current guidance from Government and health authorities.

“However, if the situation was to be that we couldn’t get 75 people together, we have a really strong and tested digital events platform that we use regularly every year anyway to host online content.”