Fintel shares drop as UK’s fintech takeover spree pushes prices greater

  • Total revenue growth up 13% Y-O-Y to £35.7m for the six months ended 30 June
  • Adjusted earnings climbed by 7 per cent to £9.6million

Fintel shares dropped on Tuesday after it warned profitability would be impacted by higher costs driven by a frenzy of acquisitions. 

The AIM-listed fintech firm told shareholders 2024 earnings before nasties would be ‘marginally lower than expectations’, despite solid interim growth in revenues and profitability. 

Huddersfield-based Fintel said it will face ‘additional staff costs’ in the second half, as a result of investment in previously acquired businesses, and the  ‘initial realisation of future cost synergies… following the acquisitions’.

The group, which supplies tech and support to financial advisers and wealth managers, has embraced acquisitions as a key part of its growth strategy, helping its shares to add around 50 per cent over the last year. 

Fintel saw total revenue growth rose was up 13 per cent year-on-year to £35.7million for the six months ended 30 June

Fintel shares were down 6.07 per cent to 294p in afternoon trading on Tuesday. 

Fintel has completed four acquisitions year-to-date, these include Synaptic Software, Threesixty, Owen James Events and ifaDASH. 

Fintel has completed four acquisitions year-to-date; benchmarking software Matrix, compliance support firm Threesixty, Owen James Events and tech provider ifaDASH. 

It has made eight acquisitions in the last 12 months. 

The deals helped to drive revenue growth of 13 per cent year-on-year to £35.7million for the six months ended 30 June.

Adjusted earnings increased by 7 per cent to £9.6million.

Fintel said it expects Threesixty to increase its revenue for the year by around £3million.

 Matt Timmins, joint chief executive officer of Fintel, said the takeovers have ‘significantly enhanced our scale, capabilities and IP, whilst accelerating investment into our core propositions and technology offering’.

He added: ‘Current trading is robust, and we are confident of meeting our full year revenue expectations, as we continue to inspire better outcomes for retail financial services.’

Following the update, Investec maintained its buy rating on Fintel, citing ‘strong organic delivery and several attractive bolt-on acquisitions’, and upgrading its target price from 320p to 340p.  

It said: ‘Given the sharp improvement in both the quality of revenues and the margins that these transactions will deliver, we continue to believe that the current valuation fails to adequately reflect Fintel’s intrinsic worth and reiterate our buy.’ 

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