Alpha Group International (AIM: ALPH) released its annual audited financials for 2023, as it closed the year with basic earnings per share (EPS) of 206.2 pence, a year-over-year increase of 124 percent, while the underlying EPS remained flat at 76.7 pence.
Dividend Announcement
The London-listed company announced a financial dividend of 12.3 pence per share, taking the final dividend for the year to 16 pence per share. In 2022, the company handed out 14.4 pence per share in the final dividend. Earlier, it launched a £20 million share buyback program.
The audited revenue and pre-tax profits for the 12 months remained similar to an earlier trading update of the company. It ended the year with a group revenue of £110.4 million, an annual uptick of 12 percent.
The latest announcement highlighted that the company’s revenue from FX risk management elevated 10 percent to £76.3 million, while the alternative banking revenue improved 18 percent to £33.9 million.
The underlying pre-tax profits went up 11 percent to £43 million. However, the figure excludes £43.2 million generated by Cobase, which Alpha Group acquired last December. In the month after the acquisition, Cobase contributed revenue of about £186,000.
Strong Non-Financial KPIs
The non-financial metrics of the Alpha Group (previously AlphaFX) improved significantly last year. According to the official numbers, the client balance in alternative banking jumped 30 percent to £2.1 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. Further, the number of FX Risk Management clients gained 2 percent to 1,071, while the average revenue per client improved to 7 percent from 3 percent.
Additionally, the number of accounts booking trades on our FXRM platform escalated 19 percent, while the number of accounts within Alternative Banking increased by 54 percent to 6,467.
“Alongside reviewing the performance of our income streams, FX Risk Management and Alternative Banking, it is important to highlight how we address our two client audiences, Corporate and Institutional, as much of our strategic planning centers around the solutions that each need,” said the CEO at the Alpha Group, Morgan Tillbrook.
Both client types continue to be underserved by traditional banking, and, whilst there is overlap in the products sold, the sales channels, expertise, and technologies are distinct. This drives our entire approach to growth: our strategy and planning.
