Consolidator boosts underlying earnings by 16% and trims debts by £6m
Oval improved its underlying earnings (EBITDAE) by 16% to £17.7m for the year ended in May 2012 (2011: £15.3m).
After adding in one-off costs, EBITDA increased 4% to £15m (2011: £14.4m).
Oval chief executive Peter Blanc fired off an upbeat email to staff revealing that gross sales increased by £5.5m to £108.1m, when compared to the year ended May 2011.
The email read: “We have performed well and should be proud of the progress we have made in the year and the potential it suggests for the coming year….
“We made some very tough decisions in the year; losing some good people in the process, however the result is that the business is leaner and better structured to focus on our future challenges.”
Oval has undergone a big year of transformation at director level. Former chief executive Philip Hodson stepped down to be replaced by Peter Blanc who has installed his own management team. The shake-up led to the exit of operations director Jeff Herdman.
The consolidator also managed to trim its debts by £6.1m. The firm was carrying net debt of £34.4m as of 31 May 2011.
Blanc has previously told Insurance Times of his desire to pay off minority shareholders once he is happy with the firm’s debt dynamics.
He said in June: “Debt-wise we stopped just in time in my view. We called a halt in 2008 when the world started to end just a bit. By the end of this year, we’ll have net senior debt of 1.5 to 2 times EBITDA which in the grand scheme of things is almost insignificant.
“We would have debt where is helpful to the business. If I had my way it would be a nice thing to do to acquire a big slice of those minority shareholders. Its good for two things: it would value enhancing for the rest of the shareholder group and it gives an option of a liquidity event for shareholders where they need a liquidity event.
“We’ve got some shareholders who have been with the company quite a long while, and quite frankly they probably weren’t still expecting to be with the company now.”
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