NWF Group plc ('NWF' or 'the Group'), the specialist distributor of fuel, food and feed across the UK, today announces its half year results for the period ended 30 November 2020.
|
|
H1 2020 |
H1 2019 |
% |
|
Financial highlights |
|
|
|
|
Revenue |
£309.4m |
£348.9m |
-11.3% |
|
Headline operating profit1 |
£3.0m |
£3.5m |
-14.3% |
|
Headline profit before taxation1 |
£2.5m |
£3.0m |
-16.7% |
|
Fully diluted headline earnings per share1 |
4.3p |
5.1p |
-15.7% |
|
Interim dividend per share |
1.0p |
1.0p |
– |
|
Net debt (excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities) |
£16.5m |
£14.9m |
+10.7% |
|
Net debt to headline EBITDA2 |
0.9x |
1.0x |
|
|
Statutory results |
|
|
|
|
Operating profit |
£2.7m |
£3.1m |
-12.9% |
|
Profit before taxation |
£2.0m |
£2.4m |
-16.7% |
|
Fully diluted earnings per share |
3.3p |
4.0p |
-17.5% |
|
Net debt (including IFRS 16 lease liabilities) |
£42.2m |
£33.5m |
+26.0% |
1 Headline operating profit excludes exceptional items (see note 4) and amortisation of acquired intangibles. Headline profit before taxation excludes exceptional items, amortisation of acquired intangibles and the net finance cost in respect of the Group's defined benefit pension scheme. Diluted headline earnings per share also take into account the taxation effect thereon.
2 Net debt to headline EBITDA is calculated based on net debt excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities. The headline EBITDA calculation excludes the impact of IFRS 16 depreciation.
Group highlights
• Overall trading performance in the first half in line with the Board's expectations and expectations for the full year unchanged.
• Results behind prior year, as anticipated, with the resilience of the Group demonstrated by consistent trading despite Brexit uncertainty and the ongoing challenge of Covid-19.
• The Group's financial position remains very strong, with leverage at <1.0x which provides capacity for continued investment in support of strategic initiatives, the pursuit of further acquisition opportunities in the Fuels division and a maintained interim dividend.
• The Group is pleased to confirm that the cyber incident at the end of October has been successfully contained and has not materially impacted the trading or commercial performance of the business.
• All divisions fully operational in current lockdown, employees designated as key workers and no significant change in demand levels.
Divisional highlights
Fuels – headline operating profit of £1.9 million (H1 2019: £1.4 million). Positive trading across the network, with increased underlying sales of gas oil offsetting lower underlying demand for heating oil and diesel, alongside a positive contribution from acquisitions.
Food – headline operating profit of £0.5 million (H1 2019: £1.4 million). Increased activity with the new Crewe warehouse fully operational and performing as planned. Significant demand volatility due to the Covid-19 lockdowns and Brexit created inefficient working in the short term and a changed business mix with a lower proportion of high value foodservice volumes.
Feeds – headline operating profit of £0.6 million (H1 2019: £0.7 million). Stable performance with lower feed volumes offset by a focus on cost control and commodity purchasing in highly volatile commodity markets.
Richard Whiting, Chief Executive, NWF Group plc, commented:
“We had a solid first half with trading in line with our expectations and those for the full year remain unchanged. This performance is a further demonstration of the resilience of the Group, which given the challenges of keeping our people safe, managing demand volatility and responding to a cyber incident have demonstrated our teams' strong capabilities. We remain confident in our growth potential and our strong financial position gives us the flexibility and capacity to continue to target development opportunities . “