Summary
Park Group plc, the UK's leading multi-retailer redemption product provider to corporate and consumer markets, today announces its final results for the financial year ended 31 March 2019. These are Park's first annual results presented under a new accounting standard (IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers), with 2018 comparatives restated accordingly.
Financial highlights
· Billings increased 3.4 per cent to £426.9m (2018 – £412.8m)
· Revenue decreased marginally to £110.4m (2018 restated – £111.1m)
· Total cash balances, including monies held in trust and deposits were £134.0m (2018 – £121.4m)
· Adjusted* operating profit of £10.9m (2018 restated – £11.3m)
· Adjusted* profit before tax of £12.5m (2018 restated – £12.6m)
· Adjusted* earnings per share of 5.43p (2018 restated – 5.50p)
· Proposed final dividend raised to 2.15p per share (2018 – 2.05p) making a total dividend for the year up 4.9 per cent to 3.20p per share (2018 – 3.05p). Dividend levels continue to grow, despite investment during a period of transformation, reflecting the board's confidence.
*before £1.21m of exceptional items related to the impairment of our land and buildings
Statutory results
· Operating profit of £9.7m (2018 restated – £11.3m)
· Profit before tax of £11.3m (2018 restated – £12.6m)
· Earnings per share of 4.78p (2018 restated – 5.50p)
Operational highlights
· Corporate:
– Good growth in billings of 8.1 per cent to £194.8m (2018 – £180.2m)
– Revenues from new clients who were billed more than £100,000 increased fivefold
– Park's own brand products grew from 85 per cent of total billings to 89 per cent
· Consumer:
– Record volume of new customer accounts for Christmas 2018
– Significant 83 per cent increase in web users interacting via a mobile device last year
Implementation of the strategic business plan
· Strengthened our management team through important senior appointments
· Signed a lease for our new offices in Liverpool city centre
· Separated the hampers business, under a new discrete management team
· Invested significantly in technology to enhance scalability, resilience and efficiency
· Continued to work on the development of a new product
Ian O'Doherty, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Park delivered another good performance last year, continuing to build upon our position as the UK's leading multi-retailer redemption product provider to the corporate and consumer markets.
“Our outlook for the current financial year is unchanged, as we anticipate continued good growth in our Corporate business to be partially offset by a slower Consumer Christmas savings market.
“In summary, we are pleased with the considerable progress that we are making and we are confident that delivery of the strategic business plan will lay the foundations for strong and sustained growth in future years.“