Christie Group – shares up 19% in seven weeks, will next week’s AGM Update point to better prospects? Wide open to a Bid?
Mark Watson-Mitchell - 09.06.2026
A year ago today, on Monday 9th June 2025, the shares of Christie Group (LON:CTG) were trading at 170p, halfway through its Trading Year to end-December 2025.
Within six months, they had eased back to the year’s Low point at 90p.
That year saw the Professional Business Services group increase its adjusted pre-tax profits from £2.6m to £6.0m.
With its AGM Trading Update due to be announced next Tuesday, 16th June, are investors going to see more upward price movement from the current 142p?
The £36.5m-capitalised business looks wide open to a bid, especially as it is likely to build its net cash balance up to £11.0m by the end of this year.
I last featured the group on Monday 20th April, with its shares at 120p – they are now up nearly 19%.
There is still more to come from this group, hopefully next week’s AGM Trading Update will be more than positive about its prospects.
The Business
Christie Group is a leading professional business services business with 32 offices across the UK and Continental Europe, catering to its specialist markets in the hospitality, leisure, healthcare, medical, childcare & education and retail sectors.
It operates in two complementary business divisions: Professional & Financial Services – representing 84% of group revenues; and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services – for some 16%.
Professional & Financial Services provides transaction-related professional services, supporting sales and acquisitions of business assets in its core sectors, as well as a range of advisory services supporting operators, its profitability is linked to transaction activity, while it outperforms during the growth phase of the cycle.
Stock & Inventory Systems & Services enhances operational efficiency for the businesses it serves, there is sustained demand for its services across the economic cycle.
Tracing its origins back to 1896, the Group has a long-established reputation for offering valued services to client companies in agency, valuation services, investment, consultancy, project management, stock audit and inventory management.
The diversity of these services provides a natural balance to the group's core agency business.
Final Results For 2025
On Monday 27th April, the group reported a strong financial performance for its year to end-December 2025, with revenue increasing by 19.2% to £70.6m and operating profit surging by 95.5% to £6.9m, resulting in a profit before tax of £6.0m.
The company also saw a significant 87.9% growth in earnings per share from continuing operations to 19.37p and proposed a final dividend increase of 57% to 2.75p per share.
Strategic divestments, including the sale of the Vennersys brand in January 2026 for £0.5m, have strengthened the group's balance sheet, which now stands at £9.4m in net funds.
The company anticipates continued demand and a positive year ahead.
Management Comment
Along with the Finals, CEO Dan Prickett stated that:
"We are delighted to report an excellent set of results for 2025 which illustrate the strong progress we have made during the year.
We outperformed original expectations quite substantially, in part due to exceptionally strong deal flow in Q4.
We sold 1,164 businesses in the year with a total value nearing £2.0bn - up 45% year on year - while also boosting our average brokerage fee by 26%.
After driving strong growth over the year alongside strategic divestments, the Group is now well positioned to deliver on our strategic objectives in the years ahead as we focus on driving revenue and earnings growth from our continuing operations, strengthening our balance sheet further and delivering enhanced value for our clients, staff and shareholders.
In recognition of a strong year of progress - with operating profit from continuing operations up 95% year on year - we have increased our final dividend by 57%.
While still relatively early in the new financial year, momentum in 2026 has been encouraging.
As a result, absent of disruption from the current geopolitical backdrop, we remain confident in delivering another year of positive progress and achieving our third consecutive year of selling over 1,000 businesses."
Chairman’s Statement
Non-Executive Chairman Simon Herrick in the latest Report & Accounts stated that:
“The Group’s teams are beginning to collaborate more following our strategy enhancement and a focus on strengthening our mutually beneficial business model across income streams, services offerings and clients in our chosen markets.
This further strengthens the Group, drives revenue and enhances our portfolio of client service offerings.
All our income streams are showing progress under our new strategy.
Like all businesses in the current environment, we cannot be totally immune from global geopolitical events and the much predicted economic headwinds ahead, but we are confident that with a strengthened balance sheet, the quality of our team and the removal of the lower margin loss making distractions, our business is significantly better prepared to press ahead and realise long term value for all stakeholders and we will continue to work together collegiately to put us in the best position possible to weather an economic storm, should one appear.
We are confident that with a strengthened balance sheet, the quality of our team and the removal of loss-making distractions, our business is significantly better prepared to press ahead and realise long term value for all stakeholders.”
The Equity
There are some 26.53m shares in issue.
The larger holders include The Estate of Philip Gwyn (27.93%), Lord Lee of Trafford (6.30%), JP Rugg (6.00%), Mrs TC Rugg (4.76%), Christina Bretten (3.88%), Hwfa Gwyn (3.87%), Katherine Gwyn (3.87%), and Anna Ross (3.87%).
Brokers View
Analyst Rob Sanders, at Shore Capital Markets, considers the group’s shares to be significantly undervalued, while implying that they could well be worth 250p a share in future value.
He notes that he expects profits to fall back in FY26F as a consequence of the ongoing investment in both its UK and its international operations to create a broader, multi-sector offering in mainland Europe.
Sanders goes for current year revenues to rise to £75.0m (£70.6m), with adjusted pre-tax profits of £4.6m (£6.0m), earnings of 13.6p (19.4p) and paying a dividend of 4.5p (3.5p) per share.
However, for the 2027 year he estimates £80.4m revenues, £5.6m profits, 16.3p earnings and 5.5p per share in dividend.
My View
As Daniel Prickett noted:
“We enhanced our operating margins to 9.7% in 2025.
This step forward-evidences that our remaining brands can deliver margin in excess of 10% of revenues.”
With its shares now at 142p, the group is capitalised at only £36.5m which compares with its likely end-year net cash of £11m – turning over £1.4m a week upon which it is making nearly over £88,000 profit per week!
I like those figures – I can see the group’s shares rising very soon back over the 170p level and then go even higher.
(Profile 19.01.26 @ 120p set a Target Price of 150p*)
(Profile 09.06.26 @ 142p set a Target Price of 170p)
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