London Security plc

Final Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2020

Chairman's statement

J.G. Murray, Chairman

Financial highlights

Financial highlights of the audited results for the year ended 31 December 2020 are as follows:

•               revenue of £152.7 million (2019: £146.9 million);

•               operating profit of £24.7 million (2019: £24.2 million);

•               profit for the year of £18.0 million (2019: £16.8 million);

•               cash of £37.5 million (2019: £27.1 million);

•               earnings per share for the year of £1.46 (2019: £1.36); and

•               a dividend per share of £0.60 (2019: £0.80).

Trading review

The financial highlights illustrate that the Group's revenue increased by £5.8 million (3.9%) to £152.7 million and operating profit increased by £0.5 million (2.1%) to £24.7 million. These results reflect:

·      the positive impact of acquisitions in 2019 and 2020 in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany.

·      a good response to the impact of Covid-19. Many of our businesses were severely hampered by Covid-19 particularly in the Spring, but most were able to recover quickly through active management of the situation.

·      improved performance from our service business in continental Europe.

·      continued improvement from newer service offerings (e.g. emergency lights and passive fire protection); and

·      the movement in the Euro to Sterling average exchange rate, which had a favourable effect of £1.1 million on reported revenue and £0.3 million on operating profit. A more detailed review of this year's performance is given in the Financial Review and the Strategic Report.

Acquisitions

It remains a principal aim of the Group to grow through acquisition. Acquisitions are being sought throughout Europe and the Group will invest at prices where an adequate return is envisaged by the Board. In the year under review the Group acquired one established security business and grew its presence in Germany and the UK with the acquisition of service contracts from smaller well-established businesses for integration into the Group's existing subsidiaries.

Management and staff

2020 was a year in which the staff were required to operate under challenging conditions, and on behalf of the shareholders, I would like to express thanks and appreciation for their contribution as essential service providers. The Group recognises that we can only achieve our aims with talented and dedicated colleagues who provide outstanding customer service in every area of the business.

Dividends

A final dividend in respect of 2019 of £0.20 per ordinary share was paid to shareholders on 10 July 2020. An interim dividend in respect of 2020 of £0.40 per ordinary share was paid to shareholders on 27 November 2020. The Board is recommending the payment of a final dividend in respect of 2020 of £0.40 per ordinary share to be paid on 9 July 2021 to shareholders on the register on 11 June 2021. The shares will be marked ex-dividend on 10 June 2021.

Covid-19 impact assessment

The Group is responsible for maintaining, manufacturing and supplying fire protection and fire suppression equipment throughout Europe and has been designated as essential contractor status by a number of our clients including care, health, housing and food production services. It was essential that we continued to meet our obligations and continued to operate from our factories and that our field -based service engineers continued to visit our customers' sites for essential responsive and planned maintenance.

Many of the components which we are reliant on are sourced from China and we therefore suffered some delays in the delivery of such components in the first quarter of 2020. The Chinese government's response to the outbreak meant that capacity returned over the course of March 2020. Our strategic stockholding meant our production impact was minimised.

With a return to relative normality on the supply side, we focused on customer demand. By the middle of March, the virus had impacted all our European trading territories. Throughout Europe, governments responded to the pandemic by applying severe restrictions on movement and introducing social distancing measures which forced many of our customers to temporarily close. We prepared the business for varying levels of sales declines by temporarily reducing staff levels in some locations. We took advantage of government job retentions schemes to finance this approach in order that staff were available to return to work as restrictions were lifted and non-essential businesses reopened. A claim of £1.5 million was made under the UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and £0.4 million under a similar scheme in Austria. In Belgium we took advantage of their temporary unemployment scheme which resulted in employee cost savings in 2020.

During this period of uncertainty, we stayed in constant contact with our staff, customers, banks and advisers to ensure clear and concise communication. Our priority was to do all we could to ensure that our offices, depots and services were kept as safe as possible, in order to protect our employees and business partners at all times. Many of our employees and customers are experiencing very difficult circumstances and we continue to support them in many ways. The health and wellbeing of our people is our highest priority. We are thankful and proud of our team members who continue to respond as essential service providers.

During the third and fourth quarters of 2020 the Group traded strongly despite the interruptions caused by varying levels of temporary restrictions imposed by the governments of the countries in which we operate. This reflects the essential nature of the services we provide. Temporary restrictions are still in place across Europe and are subject to change at short notice. However, at the date of this report we have almost a full service force in the field and have experienced a strong start to 2021. The experience of 2020 shows the resilience of our business.

Future prospects

As the situation continues, cash management will be a key consideration; the London Security Group has a healthy balance sheet, strong cash reserves and a track record for good cash generation. The Board therefore considers that the Group is well placed to navigate through the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and capitalise on the rebound in the economy created by the vaccine programmes as they gain momentum through 2021.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting ("AGM") will be held at 2 Jubilee Way, Elland, West Yorkshire HX5 9DY, on 30 June 2021 at 11.30 am. Under the UK government's roadmap, it is possible that the prohibition on non-essential travel and public gatherings will have ended and it will be possible for shareholders to attend the AGM in person. However, we strongly encourage shareholders to vote on all resolutions by completing the enclosed form of proxy for use at that Meeting, which you are requested to return in accordance with the instructions on the form.

J.G. Murray

Chairman

11 May 2021

Consolidated income statement

for the year ended 31 December 2020

*     Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The above results are all as a result of continuing operations.

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

for the year ended 31 December 2020

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

for the year ended 31 December 2020

The merger reserve is not a distributable reserve. The other reserve relates entirely to the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Consolidated statement of financial position

as at 31 December 2020

Consolidated statement of cash flows

for the year ended 31 December 2020

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 December 2020

1 Net impairment losses on financial assets

This charge relates entirely to additional expected credit losses in respect of trade receivables.

2 Earnings per share

The calculation of basic earnings per ordinary share ("EPS") is based on the profit on ordinary activities after taxation of £17,853,000 (2018: £16,653,000) and on 12,261,477 (2018: 12,261,477) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year.

For diluted EPS, the weighted average number of shares in issue is adjusted to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. There was no difference in the weighted average number of shares used for the calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share as there are no potentially dilutive shares outstanding.

3 This financial information within this preliminary announcement does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. The results for the year ended 31 December 2020 have been extracted from the full accounts of the Group for that year which received an unmodified auditor's report, and which have not yet been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.  The financial information for the year ended 31 December 2019 is derived from the statutory accounts for that year, which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditor on those filed accounts was unmodified and does not include a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

This preliminary announcement has been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement principles of International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and in accordance with the AIM rules. The financial information included in this preliminary announcement does not include all the disclosures required in accounts prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and accordingly it does not itself comply with International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.  The accounting policies used in the preparation of this preliminary announcement have remained unchanged from those set out in the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2019. They are also consistent with those in the full accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020, which have yet to be published.

The Group will post its annual report and accounts to shareholders on 24 May 2021. A copy of the annual report and accounts can be found on the company's webpage (www.londonsecurity.org).

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