FRP Advisory enjoying 'highly liquid' UK market

Specialist business advisory company FRP Advisory Group said in an update on Wednesday that the UK market was still “highly liquid”, with pent-up capital being deployed by both corporate buyers and private equity outfits.

The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting, said its FRP Corporate Finance division, enhanced by two recent acquisitions, had a “very healthy pipeline”, and had closed 32 transactions in the current period across both lead and debt advisory, with a combined value of £901m.

Non-executive chairman Nigel Guy said that included FRP acting as sell-side adviser to musical instrument retailer GAK on its successful management buyout following an investment from Risk Capital Partners, buy-side adviser to private equity firm Livingbridge in acquiring social media publisher Jungle Creations, and sell-side adviser to Insurtech firm Ignite Software Solutions on its sale to Sequel, owned by Nasdaq-listed data analytics group Verisk.

“Although the UK has started to move on beyond the major constraints of the Covid 19 pandemic, the ongoing economic consequences are evident,” Guy said.

“We are seeing supply chain disruption and rising costs of energy, raw materials and wages which create a challenging environment for businesses.

“In recent months we have been engaged to provide both advisory and formal restructuring services across a range of sectors including civil engineering, manufacturing, car parking services, commodity trading, energy and financial services.”

Nigel Guy said FRP expected that many sectors would require its expertise, as the full effect of the unwinding of government support coupled with the wider economic headwinds started to be felt.

He said overall trading in the company’s current financial year, from 1 May to date, remained in line with the board's expectations.

“FRP is a resilient business, with a track record of growth regardless of economic conditions.

“We have a strong balance sheet and a structure that provides a good level of flexibility in our internal capacity nationally, allowing us to be well positioned to service an increase in demand for our advice from diversified sources.”

In line with its quarterly dividend policy, the board declared an interim dividend of 0.8p per eligible share for the first three months ended 31 July.

The dividend would be paid on 24 December to shareholders on the register on 26 November.

FRP Advisory said it would announce a trading update covering the first half ending 31 October in mid-November.

At 0858 BST, shares in FRP Advisory Group were up 0.05% at 126.06p.