Mortgage Advice Bureau lowers 2026 guidance; shares plunge

Mortgage Advice Bureau Holdings PLC on Wednesday lowered its full-year guidance, citing a weaker housing market and fewer potential customers into its Fluent division.

Shares in the Derby, England-based mortgage advice provider fell 21% to 389.05 pence per share on Wednesday afternoon.

Mortgage Advice Bureau said it now expects adjusted pretax profit for 2026 of around £38.0 million, below current market consensus of £43.4 million. This would still represent a 4.7% increase compared with £36.3 million last year.

The downgrade was attributed to Fluent, the company's telephone advice mortgage broking platform. The company said it previously expected a significant increase in new lead flows into Fluent for the year.

Due to delays in new lead flows, Fluent expected contribution to the group's adjusted yearly pretax profit has been reduced by £5 million.

The expected profit growth from Fluent was pushed to next year, the company said.

Founder & CEO Peter Brodnicki said: "While it is disappointing to revise our expectations for 2026, market conditions have softened since our July trading update, reducing our ability to offset the impact of delays to new lead flows into Fluent."

The company cited a challenging housing and mortgage market over the summer, due to uncertainty over inflation and borrowing costs.

The company said it does not expect a meaningful recovery in house purchase activity in the short term.

Regarding its interim results, which will be published on September 22, the company said it expects adjusted pretax profit of around £14.8 million, slightly above the previous guidance given in July of £14.6 million. In the first half of 2025, adjusted pretax profit was £14.5 million.

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