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Sanne Group on Friday reported a swing to annual loss due to expenses related to its takeover by Apex Acquisition Co Ltd, but noted a rise in revenue on strong growth across all regions.
The London-based specialist alternative asset fund manager swung to a pretax loss of £2.2 million in 2021 from a profit of £20.5 million in 2020.
Sanne booked non-underlying items of £50.8 million in the year, more than double the £24.1 million registered in 2020. These included costs related to its takeover by Apex.
‘Whilst the acquisition represents a good outcome for Sanne shareholders, it has resulted in a significant amount of additional transaction-related costs in 2021,’ the company said.
Apex had battled it out with Cinven Ltd for ownership of Sanne and finally came to an agreement at 920 pence per share - a figure which was put forward by Apex in early August. The 920p deal values Sanne's entire issued share capital at £1.51 billion
Shares in Sanne were down 0.3% at 911.00 pence each on Friday morning in London.
Sanne said it now expects the deal to complete either late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of this year.
Sanne generated net revenue of £194.2 million, up 14% from £169.7 million in 2020. The company attributed this to strong growth across all regions and organic growth of 8.6%.
‘Despite the material distractions arising from well-publicised offers for the company during the year, 2021 has seen a strong financial performance from the group, with impressive double-digit growth and maintenance of healthy profit margins and cash conversion,’ the company said.
In light of the acquisition, however, the company decided not to pay any dividends for 2021. In 2020, Sanne proposed a final dividend of 9.9p per share, bringing the total payout for the year to 14.7p per share. That was up from the 14.1p per share paid out in 2019.
Looking ahead, Sanne said that the continued high demand for alternative asset investment is driving a strong recovery in its addressable markets.
Sanne also noted that the momentum seen in the second half of 2021 has continued in 2022, positioning it well to deliver a strong financial performance for 2022.
‘As a standalone business, the accelerating organic growth and continued investment in the platform position Sanne well to continue taking advantage of the market opportunity. The combination of Sanne with the Apex business once the acquisition completes will create one of the largest platforms in the sector allowing the enlarged
group to be even better positioned to thrive creating even better opportunities for our people and clients,’ Chair Rupert Robson stated.
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