Half-year Results

Full year expectations remain unchanged

Christie Group plc ('Christie Group' or the 'Group'), the leading provider of Professional & Financial Services (PFS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS) to the healthcare, hospitality, leisure, medical, childcare & education and retail sectors, today announces its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 (the "Period").

H1 2026 Financial Headlines

• Revenues up 5.4% to £36.0m (H1 2025: £34.1m) with growth across all five trading brands, both in the UK and International operations
• 11.1% increase in operating profit pre non-recurring pension scheme curtailment cost ("DB curtailment cost") to £2.4m (H1 2025: £2.1m); improved operating profit margin of 6.6% (H1 2025: 6.3%)
• Non-recurring and non-cash DB curtailment cost arising from the closure to future accrual of the Group's two defined benefit schemes of £0.4m (H1 2025: £nil)
• Operating profit (after accounting for the DB curtailment cost) of £2.0m (H1 2025: £2.1m)
• Profit before tax of £1.5m (H1 2025: £1.7m); 12.3% increase in profit before tax (before DB curtailment cost) to £1.9m (H1 2025: £1.7m)
• Significant improvement in cash balance, with cash & cash equivalents increased to £8.7m (H1 2025: £5.0m)
• 57% growth in total EPS to 4.12p (H1 2025: total including discontinued operations 2.63p); 116% growth in adjusted EPS before DB curtailment cost to 5.69p (H1 2025: 2.63p)
• Reflecting the Group's strong momentum in the Period and its continued confidence in the long-term outlook, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.25p, an increase of 67% (H1 2025: 0.75p per share)

H1 2026 Operational Headlines

• 607 businesses sold in the Period, up 11.2% (H1 2025: 546) and totalling around £835.3m (H1 2025: £978.2m) in value
• 5% growth in transactional brokerage income from our UK and International operations
• 4% increase in Valuation and Business Appraisal revenues with over £4.4bn of assets valued in H1 (2025: £3.2bn)
• 15% growth in our finance brokerage income
• 31% growth in our insurance brokerage income; high client retention levels maintained, with 87% renewal rate for existing clients during the Period
• Modest growth achieved in our hospitality stock audit business in line with management expectations against the backdrop of widely recognised challenging conditions for the UK hospitality sector
• Employee benefit expenses for the Period were up by 7.8%, reflecting a 4.4% increase in headcount to support future growth as well as inflationary pay adjustments
• Other operating expenses well controlled, reducing to 23.5% of revenue (2025: 25.4%)
• Completed sale of the Vennersys business, the Group's final loss-making divestment, at the start of the Period in January, enhancing profit margins and enabling the greater focus on continuing operations

Current trading and outlook

• Transactional brokerage activity across our UK and International operations has remained robust throughout H1, with the combined value of active mandates and agreed deals in solicitors' hands up 7% at 30 June 2026 compared to the start of the year
• Finance brokerage activity has also been encouraging with strong instruction levels throughout H1 and a pipeline of lender-sanctioned loan offers at 30 June 2026 which was 27% higher than H1 2025 and 8% higher than the start of the year
• Investment and lending appetite into our chosen sectors remain robust despite geopolitical climate
• Investment in growing our operations both in the UK and overseas continues. In August, we expanded our dental brokerage and advisory offer in the Republic of Ireland, to support a sector experiencing growing investor and operator interest
• Earlier this month we announced the appointment of Darren Bond, Global Managing Director of Christie & Co, to the Board as an Executive Director. Darren's extensive experience across valuation, brokerage, consultancy and capital markets activities further strengthens the Board's expertise and positions the Group well for further growth
• The Board anticipates delivery of a full year performance in line with current market expectations*, and once again anticipates selling in excess of 1,000 businesses in the year. The Group has a strong pipeline of deal flow in H2 and, as previously disclosed, expects a second-half weighting to invoicing

Financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2026

Dan Prickett, Chief Executive, commented:

"The Group's first half results build on an exceptionally strong year of growth in FY25 and demonstrate continued progress and momentum across the Group's brands and geographies.

Demand for our broad range of services - driven by ongoing investor and lender appetite for our specialist sectors - has remained resilient despite domestic and geopolitical uncertainty. This illustrates the sound long-term fundamentals which underpin the sectors in which we choose to specialise and the quality, dedication and energy of our teams who consistently deliver successful outcomes for our clients.

In acknowledgement of this continued momentum and our confidence in the long-term outlook, the Board has recommended an interim dividend of 1.25p, up 67%. At the same time as increasing shareholder distributions, our strong profit growth and cash generation enables us to continue to invest in attracting and retaining the strongest talent to support our growth ambitions, both in the UK and internationally.

We continue to anticipate a second-half weighting to our FY26 revenue and a full year performance in line with current market expectations, supported by the strength of the pipelines we carry into H2 and positive ongoing deal momentum."

*Prior to this announcement, market forecasts for FY26 were revenue of £75.0m and adjusted profit before tax of £4.6m.

We are pleased to report a strong and progressive first-half performance, where we have delivered further growth in revenues and underlying operating profit. Demand for our services continues to be robust across all the sectors in which we operate, despite a period of geopolitical uncertainty both in the UK and internationally. We have increased first-half revenues in each of our five trading brands and achieved growth in both our UK and International operations. Our pipelines for business sales and finance brokerage activity are all higher than H1 2025 and the start of 2026, providing us with confidence for the second half and beyond.

Financial Review

The Group reported H1 revenues from continuing operations of £36.0m (2025: £34.1m) and an adjusted operating profit of £2.4m (2025: £2.1m). First half operating profit margin pre non-recurring and non-cash pension scheme curtailment costs improved to 6.6% (2025: 6.3%).

The 5.4% growth in first-half revenues was driven by a 5.8% increase in revenues from our Professional and Financial Services ("PFS") division where, despite the exceptionally strong invoicing in Q4 of FY25, we carried good momentum in our M&A brokerage activities into 2026. Revenue growth of 2.1% in our hospitality stocktaking business that comprises our Stock and Inventory Systems and Services ("SISS") division was slightly more modest, as owners and operators continue to manage costs tightly reflecting widely reported pressures across that sector.

Operating profit from continuing operations pre non-recurring pension scheme curtailment costs increased by 11.1% to £2.4m (2025: £2.1m). This increase at more than double the rate of revenue growth, evidences the increased productivity from our established teams, augmented by a 2.7% reduction in other operating expenses to £8.4m (2025: £8.7m). This improvement is after absorbing the investment associated with a 4.4% increase in headcount, as we continue to invest in expanding our PFS division teams to support our medium and longer-term growth ambitions. The corresponding revenue growth from those new roles will materialise in future periods given the time taken to secure new M&A and finance brokerage instructions and bring those through to deal completion or sanctioned loan offers.

Total employee benefit expenses increased by 7.8% to £25.1m (2025: £23.3m). This reflects a combination of two factors: the 4.4% increase in headcount previously referred to as part of our growth investment, and the balancing 3.4% being attributable to pay inflation on existing personnel.

The closure of the Group's two defined benefit pension schemes to ongoing active accrual, which we announced on 2 April, has meant we have been required under accounting standards to recognise a non-cash and non-recurring cost of £0.4m as a past service cost in our H1 results due to those formerly active members being revalued as deferred members. An equivalent £0.4m credit has been recognised in the statement of other comprehensive income, reflecting the fact that this is an accounting adjustment only and there is no impact on either our balance sheet, cash or distributable reserves. As previously reported, both of our defined benefit pension schemes remain in healthy surplus and we are working collaboratively and constructively with the trustees of both schemes towards our shared objective of a full buy-out which fully protects members' accrued benefits.

Finance costs relating to lease liabilities remained consistent at £0.4m (2025: £0.4m). We continued to have no interest costs payable on bank facilities, given our positive net cash position. Our cash and cash equivalents balance at the end of H1 increased by £3.7m year-on-year to £8.7m (2025: £5.0m). The £0.7m decrease in the cash balance since the year end was entirely as anticipated and reflects our normal first-half working capital pattern where bonuses and commissions relating to FY25 performance were paid out in H1. We anticipate a cash-generative trading performance in H2.

Having completed the disposal of the loss-making software business, Vennersys, the total first-half earnings per share from both continuing and discontinued operations increased by 57% to 4.12p per share (2025: 2.63p per share), after allowing for the non-recurring and non-cash pension curtailment cost. Reflecting this significant earnings uplift and the positive outlook for H2 from our continuing operations, the Board has declared an increased interim dividend of 1.25p per share (H1 2025: 0.75p per share) which will be paid on 6 November 2026 to shareholders on the register on 9 October 2026.

Operational review

We saw positive performances and progress during the period across our PFS division businesses with year-on-year revenue growth achieved by all four brands - Christie & Co, Christie Finance, Christie Insurance and Pinders - that comprise it.

Having brokered the sale of 1,164 businesses in FY25 and 1,187 in FY24, we increased the volume of businesses sold in H1 2025 by 11.2%, completing on 607 (2025: 546) business sales in the Period. The mix of business in the Period, comprising higher volumes from the Pub, Pharmacy and Retail sectors than H1 2025, meant that our average fee on completed deals was 5% lower than the same period last year.

Nonetheless we ended H1 with the value of our M&A pipeline - deals where an agreement between vendor and buyer is in place and the transaction is now in solicitors' hands and subject to ongoing due diligence - up over 5% on the prior year and the average fee level of that pipeline marginally ahead. Within that transactional pipeline, our focus on the continued but measured expansion of our international activities saw our international pipelines up by over 24% on the end of H1 2025, despite challenging conditions in what is currently a weak German market.

We have also maintained progress in our advisory activities where Valuation and Business Appraisal income was 4% higher than H1 2025, which itself was 20% higher than H1 2024. During the Period we valued assets in our sectors worth over £4.4bn (2025: £3.2bn) for new lending, covenant monitoring and refinancing purposes.

In Christie Finance, our FCA regulated finance brokerage business, we delivered a 15% growth in H1 fee income compared to the equivalent period in 2025. New instructions levels have remained strong throughout the first half of the year with robust demand experienced by our Commercial Mortgage, Corporate Debt Advisory, Real Estate and Bridging, and Unsecured lending teams. Despite the healthy income growth achieved, this strong instruction level has supported a growing pipeline which ended H1 27% higher than a year earlier and 8% up on the start of 2026. We anticipate an encouraging second half income performance as a result.

Christie Insurance, our insurance brokerage business - also FCA regulated - continued to achieve strong client renewal levels, with 87% of clients choosing to renew their cover in the period. This, coupled with a steadily improving performance from our expanded sales teams who offer clients general trade insurances and life and protection products tailored to our specialist sectors, meant that our insurance brokerage commissions income was increased 31% on the same period in 2025.

In the SISS division, Venners, our hospitality stock audit business continued to see challenging conditions impacting the sector. Notwithstanding this, the business achieved modest growth in its revenues, where both Stock Audit and Compliance income were ahead of the prior year. This growth was achieved through an improved level of new business activity and quote conversion, which served to offset the negative impact of existing clients choosing to extend stock periods as part of their own cost management strategies and staff availability.

Underlying productivity of our fee-earning stock audit teams showed stronger improvement and outpaced pay inflation, with a 4.3% increase in income per head from a 2% reduction in that fee-earner headcount. As a result, the gross margin achieved by the business from its H1 performance improved by 1.3%. Performance improved as we moved through the first half, with Q2 revenues 5.5% higher than a slightly subdued Q1.

Outlook

The Group commenced the second half with transactional and finance brokerage pipelines ahead of both the same point last year and the position at the start of the year following very strong growth in FY25. This evidences robust ongoing demand for our services despite the backdrop of ongoing conflicts and domestic and geopolitical uncertainty experienced throughout the first half of the year. It also underpins our continued expectations of a stronger second half performance than we have achieved in H1, and a full year performance in line with the Board's expectations.

M&A activity across our specialist sectors remains resilient, underpinned by continued investment and lending appetite which reflects the strong fundamentals of the businesses and sectors we support. Our balance sheet and cash resources have significantly improved over the last two years, providing us with the confidence to continue to invest in strengthening and expanding our teams where we see further growth opportunities.

Once again, I would like to thank our superb teams who continue to deliver outstanding outcomes for our clients, and those clients for putting their trust in us. The first half performance is testament to our team's ongoing passion, expertise, commitment and collaboration and means we are well placed to achieve our ambitions for the full year and beyond.

Dan Prickett

Chief Executive Officer

Independent Review Report to Christie Group plc

Introduction

We have been engaged by the Company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six-month period ended 30 June 2026 which comprises the Interim Consolidated Income Statement, the Interim Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Interim Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, the Interim Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, the Interim Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity and the related Notes 1 to 16.

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 June 2026 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with International Accounting Standard ('IAS') 34 "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted for use in the United Kingdom and the AIM Rules issued by the London Stock Exchange.

Basis for Conclusion

As disclosed in Note 2, the annual financial statements of the group are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards adopted for use in the United Kingdom ("UK adopted IFRS"). The condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard ('IAS') 34 "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted for use in the United Kingdom.

Conclusions Relating to Going Concern

Responsibilities of directors

The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with International Accounting Standard ('IAS') 34 "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted for use in the United Kingdom and the AIM Rules issued by the London Stock Exchange.

Auditor's Responsibilities for the review of the financial information

MHA, Statutory Auditor

Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Consolidated interim income statement

All profit after tax is attributable to the equity shareholders of the parent.

30 June 2025 has been restated to reflect the discontinued operation in December 2025 - see note 5.

Consolidated interim statement of comprehensive income

Other comprehensive (losses)/income:

Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:

Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss:

Total comprehensive income for the period is wholly attributable to equity shareholders of the parent.

Consolidated interim statement of changes in shareholders' equity

Notes to the consolidated interim financial statements

General information

Christie Group plc is a public limited company incorporated in and operating from England. The Company's ordinary shares are traded on the AIM Market operated by the London Stock Exchange. Christie Group plc is the parent undertaking of a group of companies covering a range of related activities. These fall into two divisions - Professional & Financial Services and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services. Professional & Financial Services principally covers business valuation, consultancy & agency, business mortgages & insurance services and business appraisal. Stock & Inventory Systems & Services covers stock audit & counting, consulting, compliance, inventory preparation & valuation and hospitality.

Basis of preparation

The interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard ('IAS') 34 "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted for use in the United Kingdom and the accounting policies applied in the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025. Taxes on income in the interim periods are accrued using the effective tax rate that would be applicable to expected total annual earnings.

There are no new standards, amendments or interpretations that have been published and are mandatory from 1 January 2026 that have a material effect on the 31 December 2026 financial statements.

Going concern

Having reviewed the Group and Company's detailed budgets, projections and funding requirements to 31 December 2027, taking account of reasonably possible changes in trading performance over this period, the Directors believe they have reasonable grounds for stating that the Group and Company have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these interim accounts.

Non-statutory accounts

These consolidated interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting'. The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors reported on these accounts reported the following:

• their report was unqualified; (2) did not contain a statement under either section 498(2) or section 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006; and (3) did not include references to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis.

The financial information for the periods ended 30 June 2026 and 30 June 2025 is unaudited.

Critical accounting estimates and judgements

Critical accounting estimates and assumptions

Estimated impairment of investments

Investments are subject to an impairment review annually and when there are indications that the carrying value may not be recoverable. The recoverable amounts of cash-generating units have been determined based on value-in-use calculations.

Retirement benefit obligations

The assumptions used to measure the expense and liabilities related to the Group's defined benefit pension plans are reviewed annually by professionally qualified, independent actuaries, trustees and management as appropriate. Management bases their assumptions on their understanding and interpretation of applicable scheme rules which prevail at the statement of financial position date. The measurement of the expense for a period requires judgement with respect to the following matters, amongst others:

• the probable long-term rate of increase in pensionable pay;
• the inflation rate;
• the discount rate; and
• the estimated life expectancy of participating members.

The assumptions used by the Group, may differ materially from actual results, and these differences may result in a significant impact on the amount of pension expense recorded in future periods. In accordance with IAS 19, the Group recognises all actuarial gains and losses immediately in other comprehensive income.

Critical accounting judgements and assumptions

The critical judgements made in the process of applying the Group's accounting policies during the year that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements are set out below.

Deferred taxation

Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that the Group believes it is probable that future taxable profit will be available against which temporary differences and losses from previous periods can be utilised. Management judgement is required to determine the amount of deferred tax assets that can be recognised, based upon the likely timing and the level of future taxable profits together with future tax planning strategies.

• Critical accounting estimates and judgements (continued)
• Revenue recognition

The valuation of unbilled revenue is based on an estimate of the amount expected to be recoverable from clients and involves detailed understanding of the contractual terms with clients. Management is required to make estimates in determining the point at which the fair value of consideration can be measured reliably.

The principal uncertainty over this estimation is a result of the amounts not yet being billed to the client. The extent of such uncertainty is increased on engagements where conditions remain at the point of exchange of contract, such as approval of the transaction from relevant regulators, which mean that the success of the transaction is not certain.

Management has evaluated the terms, performance milestones, counterparty intentions along with historical experience and external market conditions to determine whether it is highly probable that these contracts will be successfully executed, and where it has been judged that the outcome can be reliably measured, revenue has been recognised accordingly.

Segment information

The Group is organised into two main business segments: Professional & Financial Services (PFS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS).

The segment results for the period ended 30 June 2026 are as follows:

The segment results for the period ended 30 June 2025 are as follows:

Segment information (continued)

The segment results for the year ended 31 December 2025 are as follows:

Revenue recognised in the period has been derived from the provision of services provided when the performance obligation has been satisfied.

Discontinued operations

On 19 December 2025 the Group entered into an agreement to dispose of the business and assets of its visitor attraction software business, Vennersys, to Digital Ticketing Systems Limited for a cash consideration of up to £1.4m.

The consideration is based on an initial cash consideration of £0.5m upon completion of the sale, and up to £0.9m of additional retained consideration payable within 18 months, subject to certain post completion performance conditions being achieved. Completion of the sale occurred on 16 January 2026. The Vennersys business was a discontinued operation from 19 December 2025.

5.1 Discontinued operations income statement for the year ended 31 December 2025

Discontinued operations (continued)

Basic and diluted earnings per share for discontinued operations for 30 June 2026: £nil (31 December 2025: (14.29p) and 30 June 2025: (3.14p)).

The loss on discontinuation of the Vennersys operation is summarised as follows:

Total £'000

Consideration received or receivable:

*Proceeds from trade and assets sale is included within debtors at 31 December 2025. £384,000 was received by Vennersys and £116,000 was received by Venpowa in January 2026.

Taxation

Deferred tax assets have been recognised in respect of tax losses and other temporary differences giving rise to deferred tax assets where it is probable that these assets will be recovered.

Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit/(loss) attributable to equity holders of the Company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period, which excludes the shares held in the Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) trust.

Diluted earnings per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares, once performance conditions are met. The Company has only one category of potential dilutive ordinary shares - share options.

The calculation is performed for the share options to determine the number of shares that could have been issued at fair value (determined as the average market price of the Company's shares during the period) based on the monetary value of the subscription rights attached to outstanding share options. The number of shares calculated as above is compared with the number of shares that would have been issued assuming the exercise of the share options.

Dividends

A final dividend in respect of 2025 of 2.75p per share, amounting to a dividend of £698,000, was proposed by the directors and approved by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 16 June 2026, with the funds paid to the registrar on 3 July 2026. The funds were transferred to shareholders on 10 July 2026.

An interim dividend in respect of 2026 of 1.25p per share, amounting to a dividend of £317,000, was declared by the directors at their meeting on 23 September 2026. These financial statements do not reflect this dividend payable.

The dividend of 1.25p per share will be payable to shareholders on the record on 9 October 2026. The dividend will be paid on 6 November 2026. As at the 30 June 2026, the parent company had distributable reserves of £5,423,000 (31 December 2025: £2,201,000).

Trade and other receivables

The fair value of trade and other receivables approximates to the carrying value as detailed above.

Share capital

The Company has one class of ordinary shares which carry no right to fixed income.

Investment in own shares

The Group has established an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) trust to meet its future contingent obligations under the Group's share option schemes. The ESOP purchases shares in the market for distribution at a later date in accordance with the terms of the Group's share option schemes. The rights to dividend on the shares held have been waived.

Retirement benefit obligations

The Group operates two defined benefit schemes (closed to future accrual) providing pensions on final pensionable pay. The contributions are determined by qualified actuaries based on triennial valuations using the projected unit method. Both defined benefit schemes were closed to future accrual with effect from April 2026.

When a member retires, the pension and any spouse's pension is either secured by an annuity contract or paid from the managed fund. Assets of the schemes are reduced by the purchase price of any annuity purchase and the benefits no longer regarded as liabilities of the scheme.

The defined benefit is calculated on a year-to-date basis. There have been no significant market fluctuations or significant one-off events other than the closure to future accrual with effect from April 2026. At this date all active members became deferred members, breaking the link between accrued benefits and future salary increase. Therefore from April 2026 these benefits will be subject to deferred revaluation. This is a curtailment under IAS 19 and a past service cost of £399,000 has been recognised at the date at which members were notified of this closure with reference to market conditions at that date. A corresponding credit has been recognised in the statement of other comprehensive income, reflecting that the IAS 19 surplus on the schemes means that there is no increase in the Group's retirement benefit obligations within the balance sheet, and no cash impact.

The terms of the schemes are that the Group does not have an unconditional right to a refund of any surplus. Therefore there is an asset ceiling that prevents an asset being recognised. The asset ceiling at 30 June 2026 was £13.4m unrecognised asset (30 June 2025: £15.3m, 31 December 2025: £15.8m).

The obligation outstanding of £771,000 (30 June 2025: £780,000; 31 December 2025: £803,000) represents £771,000 (30 June 2025: £780,000; 31 December 2025: £803,000) payable to the former Chief Executive. The movement in the pension liability arises primarily due to pension paid during the period and from a change in the actuarial assumptions used and the discount rate applied.

In addition, the Group operates a defined contribution scheme for participating employees. Payments to the scheme are charged as an employee benefit as they fall due. The Group has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid.

Trade and other payables

The Group is operating within its existing banking facilities and maintains a net overdraft facility of £4.5m.

Related-party transactions

The Group has no ultimate controlling party.

During the period rentals of £323,010 (30 June 2025: £310,000; 31 December 2025: £620,000) were payable to Carmelite Property Limited by Christie Group plc in accordance with the terms of a long-term lease agreement. Carmelite Property Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales and jointly owned by The Christie Group Pension and Assurance Scheme, The Venners Retirement Benefit Fund and The Fitzroy Square Pension Fund.

Publication of Interim Report

The 2026 Interim Financial Statements are available on the Company's website https://www.christiegroup.com