Full year results for the year ended 31 December 2024

Positive financial performance and significant strategic advancements.

Matt Timmins, Joint CEO of Fintel

"2024 has been a seminal year for Fintel, marked by continued strategic advancements and strong financial performance. The company has delivered robust results, with complementary acquisitions contributing to substantial growth in SaaS and subscription-based revenues. We have expanded the Fintel group by welcoming four new businesses in 2024, with the previously announced acquisition of RSMR successfully completing in January 2025. These strategic acquisitions, combined with ongoing investments in our proprietary technology and data solutions, have enhanced our intellectual property, scale, and market presence, laying the foundation for sustained organic growth. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to achieve further progress. We have started the year positively, trading in line with Board expectations, and onboarding six new customers to our Matrix 360 market intelligence software. With our comprehensive technology platform strongly positioned to capitalise on further growth opportunities within the fragmented retail financial services sector, we see material opportunities for value creation across our family of brands."

Financial highlights - Positive performance and significant strategic progress

• Core 1 revenue increased to £68.9m (FY23: 56.6m), up 22%, supported by revenue of £15.0m (FY23: £1.5m) from our acquired portfolio.

• Adjusted EBITDA 2 growth of 8.5% to £22.2m (FY23: £20.5m), following investment to expand products, services and capabilities.

• Core SaaS & Subscription revenue up 17% to £44.1m (FY23: £37.6m) building on our quality recurring revenue streams.

• Four acquisitions completed in 2024 with initial net cash investment of £16.6m, delivering combined core revenues of £7.5m in the period.

• Strong balance sheet with £6.3m of cash (FY23: £12.7m), and £50m of headroom in £80m Revolving Credit Facility, providing flexibility for further investment.

• Net debt position 3 of £23.7m (FY23: net cash of £1.7m), representing comfortable leverage of 1.1x, following spend on acquisitions and step up in investment.

• Adjusted EPS 2 of 13.2 pence per share (FY23: 12.2 pence per share), reflecting continued strong profitability. Adjusted EPS benefitted from the recognition of a £0.8m one-off tax benefit due to improving financial performance of acquired entities enabling crystallisation of prior tax losses.

• Final dividend of 2.45 pence per share proposed, resulting in a full year dividend of 3.65 pence per share, an increase of 5.8% on prior year.

Strategic and operational highlights - Significant progress

• Sustained growth across Core activities with enhanced earnings
  • Significant growth in Core SaaS and Subscription revenue, up 17% to £44.1m (FY23: £37.6m) supported by acquired portfolio following selective acquisitions in the year
  • Strong growth in software licence revenues driven by expanded proprietary technology platform and adoption across expanded membership base and broader market
  • Significant growth in Fintech and Research revenues, increasing 14.5% to £25.4m (FY23: £22.3m)
• Four strategic acquisitions and one investment completed in 2024, and a further acquisition completed in 2025, in line with our strategy to enhance scale, IP and capabilities through complementary M&A.
  • Owen James - strengthening our flagship events programme and data and insights strategy
  • Synaptic Software - expanding Fintel's planning and research tools into the Protection sector
  • ifaDASH - extending Fintel's regulatory technology capabilities to enable back-office digitisation
  • Mortgage Brain - minority investment and enterprise distribution deal, making its leading CRM, sourcing and submission software available to Fintel's wide network of advisers
  • Threesixty Services - expanding our compliance services offering for large and medium intermediary businesses and discretionary fund managers

• Rayner Spencer Mills Research - acquisition successfully completed on 7 January 2025, extending Defaqto's fund research and ratings platform.

• Continued investment into technology and service platform, with positive synergies driving organic growth opportunities, including:
  • Release of proprietary market intelligence software Matrix 360 (phase 1) in January 2025, an industry first tool for insurers to optimise product design and performance. First customers already signed up with a strong pipeline of future opportunities
  • Launch of Fintel IQ proposition in May 2024, offering a customisable, modular technology and data platform to larger IFA firms in response to market consolidation
  • Extension of Fintel's proprietary technology, data and insight propositions, leveraging capabilities and datasets acquired through M&A, including development of:
    • Protection quote and apply platform following the acquisition of Synaptic Software
    • Digitised back-office solution following the acquisition of ifaDASH
    • Extended product and risk ratings platform to cover financial strength ratings and tax advantaged products
    • New strategic events series, extending Simplybiz's flagship events programme

Current trading and outlook - Good start to the new financial year, confident of further strategic progress

• Strong momentum going into the new financial year, with current trading in line with the Board's expectations
• The commercial opportunity within the UK market remains strong, underpinned by the dynamic and fragmented UK financial services sector, including increasing regulatory requirements and demand for data and insights as intermediaries and product providers navigate an evolving market
• Signs of an improving housing market following latest interest rate decision, with the business well placed to benefit from a further recovery
• Strong pipeline of opportunities following launch of Matrix 360 (phase 1) to the insurance market, with the potential to expand into other markets
• We are confident of delivering further strategic and financial progress in 2025, as we focus on ongoing integration of recent acquisitions, realising further synergies and achieving sustained organic growth

Notes

¹Core business excludes revenues from panel management and surveying

²Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS are alternative performance measures for which a reconciliation to a GAAP measure is provided in note 8 and note 10

³Net debt excludes any adjustment under IFRS 16 "Lease Accounting" and compares gross cash balances to gross borrowings under the Group's £80m Revolving Credit Facility.

⁴Like-for-like basis strips out the impact of acquisitions and the changes in revenue recognition of a software reseller agreement.

Analyst presentation

An analyst briefing is being held at 9:30am on 19 March 2024 via an online video conference facility. To register your attendance, please contact fintel@mhpgroup.com.
For further information please contact:

Notes to Editors

Fintel is the UK's leading fintech and support services business, combining the largest provider of intermediary business support, SimplyBiz, and the leading research, ratings and Fintech business, Defaqto.

Fintel provides technology, compliance and regulatory support to thousands of intermediary businesses, data and targeted distribution services to hundreds of product providers and empowers millions of consumers to make better informed financial decisions. We serve our customers through three core divisions.

The Intermediary Services division provides technology, compliance, and regulatory support to thousands of intermediary businesses through a comprehensive membership model. Members include directly authorised IFAs,
Wealth Managers and Mortgage Brokers. 

The Distribution Channels division delivers market Insight and analysis and targeted distribution strategies to financial institutions and product providers. Clients include major Life and Pension companies, Investment Houses, Banks, and Building Societies.

The Fintech and Research division (Defaqto) provides market leading software, financial information and product research to product providers and intermediaries. Defaqto also provides product ratings (Star Ratings) on thousands of financial products. Financial products are expertly reviewed by the Defaqto research team and are compared and rated based on their underlying features and benefits. Defaqto ratings help consumers compare and buy financial products with confidence. For more information about Fintel, please visit the website: www.wearefintel.com