Christie Group plc has released its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023. The company, which provides Professional & Financial Services (PFS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS) to various sectors, experienced a challenging H1 performance due to a decline in transactional volumes in its agency business, Christie & Co. This slowdown was a result of lower activity levels and sentiment in the wider market. However, the company expects a more positive trading performance in H2.

Financially, Christie Group saw a 1.6% decrease in revenues to £33.1 million compared to the same period last year. The operating loss was £1.4 million, compared to a £2.3 million profit in H1 2022. Employee costs increased by 8.0% to £25.2 million, while other operating expenses rose by 15.8% to £9.4 million. PFS revenues were down by 8.1% to £20.4 million, with an operating loss of £0.4 million. SISS revenues increased by 11.1% to £12.8 million, but the operating loss was £1.0 million.

The company reduced its borrowings to £1.7 million and its pension liabilities to £0.9 million. It had a cash and cash equivalents balance of £2.9 million. The board declared an interim dividend of 0.5p per share, compared to 1.25p per share in H1 2022.

Operationally, Christie Group saw a significant decrease in transactional volumes in H1 2023 compared to the previous two years. However, the company has been busy with significant portfolio assignments in the Dental, Healthcare, Hotels, and Pubs sectors, with a number of exchanges already occurring and more anticipated in H2. The Valuation, Business Appraisal, and Finance Brokerage operations performed well, while the Hospitality stocktaking business continued its positive post-Covid recovery. The Pharmacy and Supply Chain operations also traded well in H1. The UK Retail stocktaking and visitor attraction businesses require further revenue growth to achieve profitability.

Looking ahead, Christie Group anticipates an improvement in transactional volumes by the end of Q3 and into Q4. The company has seen strong performance in its valuation and appraisal operations and finance brokerage business in early H2. Within the SISS division, the hospitality, pharmacy, supply chain, and Benelux operations are trading positively, while UK retail stocktaking remains challenging. The visitor attraction software business has had a more positive start to H2 with new business wins and increasing levels of upsells to existing clients.

CEO Dan Prickett commented on the disappointing H1 performance, attributing it to changing economic conditions that have affected transactional activity. However, he highlighted the encouraging performance in other parts of the company and the positive financial position with reduced pension deficit repair obligations and term loan repayments. Prickett expects more positive transactional activity levels once the market adjusts to changes in interest rates and inflation.