27 November 2017       

AIM: UNG.L

Universe Group plc

("Universe", the "Group" or the "Company")

TRADING UPDATE

Universe Group plc (AIM: UNG.L), a leading developer and supplier of point of sale, payment and loyalty systems, gives the following update on trading ahead of the announcement of the full year results for year to 31 December 2017, which are expected to be announced in April 2018. 
 

As reported in the Interim Results released on 26 September 2017, the out turn for the year has been dependent on the Group's ability to close and execute a small number of high value contracts prior to the year end. It is now clear this is unlikely to happen in time.

Accordingly, for the year to 31 December 2017 the Group's revenues are now expected to be approximately £19.5m with an adjusted EBITDA of around £2.7m. At 31 December 2017, the Group expects to have net cash of close to £1.5m.

Jeremy Lewis, Chief Executive of Universe Group plc, commented:

"It is disappointing not to have executed the deals we had planned in this financial period, even though we believe they will happen in early 2018. The business continues to operate with a strong recurring revenue base, however the arrival of material new contracts can cause swings in our financial results. We have accordingly adopted a prudent approach to forecasting these."

For further information:

Universe Group plc                                                                                    T:  +44  (0)2380 689 510

Andrew Blazye, Non-Executive Chairman

Jeremy Lewis, Chief Executive

finnCap                                                                                                                                           T: +44 (0)20 7220 0500

Stuart Andrews / Henrik Persson (Corporate Finance)

Richard Chambers (Corporate Broking)

IFC Advisory                                                                                                                                  T: +44  (0)20 7652 9781

Tim Metcalfe

Heather Armstrong

About Universe Group plc:

Universe provides some of the world's leading retailers with point of sale, payment and loyalty solutions.  The Group's solutions are based on its own proprietary software and are offered out of the cloud on a software as a service model with its data centres processing over 5 billion transactions every year. For further information, please see www.universe-group.co.uk