1st April 2019

iomart Group plc

("iomart" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Pre-close Trading Update

iomart Group plc (AIM: IOM), the cloud computing company, provides its pre-close trading statement for the year ended 31 March 2019 ahead of the announcement of its full year results.

Group Trading Performance

The Board is pleased to report that iomart expects to deliver another year of revenue growth with consistent, strong profitability and cash generation.

For the year to 31 March 2019, the Group expects to report revenue growing to approximately £104 million (FY2018: £97.7 million), adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of approximately £42.2 million (FY2018: £39.8 million) and adjusted⁽²⁾ profit before tax of approximately £25.3 million (FY2018: £24.0 million).

Over the last 12 months we have reinvigorated our sales and marketing function to ensure we are best placed to capture the full market opportunity. The early benefits of this effort started to flow through in the second half of the financial year with an increase in new lead generation from both new and existing customers. This has delivered a strong finish to the year with a significantly larger pipeline of prospects than this time last year and we enter the new financial year with confidence. 

The journey to Cloud adoption remains a long term trend and, as a result, our market opportunity is large and widening. We continue to invest in our cloud product offering, skills and organisational platform to ensure we are positioned to capitalise on this opportunity, and the Board is confident that strong growth will continue in the future.

Investments in the second half

On 20 December 2018, we completed the acquisition of LDeX Group Limited ("LDeX") for an initial consideration of £7.5 million, with a further maximum contingent consideration of £3.5 million. LDeX provides datacentre and connectivity services in the UK from central London and Manchester locations. As well as bringing a new and diverse customer base to iomart, the two locations are complementary to our existing infrastructure.

In December 2018, we purchased the freehold of our Maidenhead site for £5.4 million.  This investment, along with the extension of our London lease earlier in the year, and the LDeX acquisition, brings long term certainty to our datacentre infrastructure.

Notice of Results

The Group expects to report its results for the year to 31 March 2019 on Tuesday 11 June 2019.

Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart Group plc, stated:

"iomart has delivered yet another year of growth with strong profitability and cash flow underpinned by our recurring revenue business model, diverse customer base and attractive market position.

"The Group's large and building sales pipeline, combined with high levels of visibility and a significant market opportunity, leaves the Board very confident in the outlook for the new financial year, as well as the long term prospects for the Group. "

⁽¹⁾adjusted EBITDA means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payment charges, gains or losses on revaluation of contingent consideration, acquisition related costs and non-recurring items.

 ⁽²⁾adjusted profit before tax means profits before, tax, share based payment charges, amortisation of acquired intangibles,  gains or losses on revaluation of contingent consideration, acquisition related costs, non-recurring items, mark to market adjustments in respect of interest swap arrangements and interest charges on contingent consideration.

For further information:

About iomart Group plc

For over 20 years iomart Group plc (AIM: IOM) has been helping growing organisations to maximise the flexibility, cost effectiveness and scalability of the cloud. From data centres we own and operate in the U.K., and from connected facilities across the globe, we deliver 24/7 storage and protection for data across the most complex of cloud and legacy infrastructures. Our team of over 400 dedicated staff work with our customers at the strategy stage through to delivery and ongoing management, to implement the secure cloud solutions that deliver to their business requirements.

For further information about the Group, please visit www.iomart.com