Public Policy Holding Company (PPHC) CMD 2025 summary

Strategic vision and business model

• Focuses on building a global, integrated advisory platform combining government relations, strategic communications, and public affairs, emphasizing complementary capabilities and a collaborative, employee-owned culture.

• Operates a house-of-brands model, maintaining local expertise and brand equity while leveraging group-wide resources and cross-selling incentives.

• Maintains a unique public company model with high employee ownership, supporting talent attraction, retention, and long-term value creation.

• Pursues selective consolidation and expansion from a U.S. federal lobbying base into state-level, international, and strategic communications markets, highlighted by recent acquisitions.

• Aims to be the leading global provider of strategic communications and government relations by uniting top specialists for client, employee, and shareholder success.

Financial performance and guidance

• 2024 revenue reached $150 million, with organic growth at 2.7% and a run rate approaching $180 million including recent acquisitions.

• EBITDA for 2024 was $36.1 million (34% margin), with $3 million in one-off costs; normalized margin is expected to remain in the 25%-30% range.

• Client base is diversified across sectors and geographies, with over 1,200 clients and low dependency on any single client; top 5 clients represent only 7% of revenue.

• Client retention rates remain high (80%-85%), with lobbying/GR at low 90s and communications at high 70s to low 80s.

• Organic growth was modest in 2023-2024 due to macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, but a recovery in public affairs is underway, with strong momentum expected for 2025.

Growth strategy and M&A

• Medium-term ambition to reach $500 million in revenue by 2030+, driven by 5%-10% organic growth and $35-$50 million in annual acquisition revenue.

• Growth agenda focuses on cross-selling, digital and data capability expansion, and leveraging integrated expertise across brands.

• Maintains an active M&A pipeline, targeting best-in-class firms to expand geographies and capabilities, funded through a mix of cash and shares; recent acquisitions include Lucas Public Affairs, Pagefield, and TrailRunner International.

• M&A targets must have strong margins (20%-30%) and cultural fit; earn-out structures incentivize long-term integration and performance, with deals immediately EPS accretive.

• Plans to pursue a dual U.S. listing to increase liquidity, broaden investor access, and potentially use equity for acquisitions.