24 May 2022
CRANSWICK plc: PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Strong commercial and strategic progress
24 May 2022
Cranswick plc (“Cranswick” or “the Company” or “the Group”), a leading UK food producer, todaynounces its audited preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 26 March 2022.
Commercial and strategic progress
- Revenue above GBP2bn, with adjusted Group operating margin maintained at 7.0%
- Unprecedented industry wide labour and supply chain challenges being well managed with excellent customer service levels maintained
- Ongoing cost inflation being proactively managed and recovered
- Total capital expenditure of GBP93.7m across the Group's asset base to support continued strong growth plans
- Significant uplift in Poultry sales following the successful capacity expansion at Eye
- GBP26m Hull Cooked Bacon facility successfully commissioned at the beginning of the year and performing to plan
- New GBP32m Hull Breaded Poultry facility successfully commissioned shortly after year end
- Strong M&A pipeline with three businesses acquired during the year
- Expansion of Convenience category following two complementary bolt-on acquisitions, further strengthening our non-meat range
- Entry into fast growing and complementary UK pet food market through acquisition of Grove Pet Foods
Sustainability highlights
- All 14 eligible(Yen) manufacturing sites now certified carbon neutral
- Science Based Targets (SBTi) aligned with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees under the Paris Agreement now validated, with a commitment to halve Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2030 and achieve Net Zero status by 2040
- Sustainability linked refinancing of the Group's bank facility successfully completed during the year
- Commitment to purchasing 100% certified deforestation-free soya(+/-)
Financial highlights*:
- Statutory profit before tax 13.2% higher at GBP129.9m (2021: GBP114.8m)
- Statutory earnings per share up 10.9% to 195.7p (2021: 176.4p)
- Full year dividend increased by 8.0% to 75.6p (2021: 70.0p); 32 years of unbroken dividend growth
- Return on capital employed(++) of 16.9% (2021: 17.2%)
- Net debt (excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities) of GBP36.2m (2021: GBP20.8m)
- Robust balance sheet with new GBP250m bank facility providing significant headroom following refinancing
Adam Couch, Cranswick's Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“In a year which has been unprecedented in terms of the scale and breadth of challenges we have faced, we have delivered our strategy at pace and our long-term growth plan remains firmly on track.
“We have worked tirelessly to support our customers while continuing to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues across the business. We have consistently delivered exemplary service levels to our customers, supported our local communities and made great strides toward delivering many of our Second Nature sustainability targets.
“It is at times like this that partnerships and cooperation come to the fore, and I would like to thank our stakeholders and all our colleagues for their ongoing support, resilience and understanding during this very demanding period.
“The terrible events in Ukraine continue to profoundly impact our sector both at a humanitarian and an economic level. We are proactively supporting colleagues whose families may be affected by the conflict, including making donations, offers of employment and resettlement packages.
” Trading in the new financial year has been in line with the Board's expectations. Notwithstanding the challenging operating conditions we continue to experience , our outlook for the Group for the current year is unchanged. We have a solid platform from which to continue Cranswick's successful long-term development. “