Wynnstay Group Plc
(“Wynnstay” or the “Group” or the “Company”)
Final Results
For the year ended 31 October 2019
Key points
Financial
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Results reflect difficult market conditions for the agricultural sector |
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unseasonal weather impacted feed demand in key feed trading months |
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farmers tightened spending in response to weaker farmgate prices and political uncertainty |
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Revenue increased to £490.60m (2018: £462.66m), mainly reflecting commodity price inflation |
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Gross profit of £61.98m (2018: £61.70m) |
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Underlying Group pre-tax profit* of £8.01m (2018: £9.60m). Reported pre-tax profit of £7.55m (2018: £9.53m) |
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Basic earnings per share of 30.95p (2018: 39.11p) |
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Net cash of £3.84m at year end (31 October 2018: net debt of (£0.98m)) |
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Net assets of £94.95m at year end (2018: £91.07m) |
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Proposed final dividend of 9.40p (2018: 8.95p), taking total for the year to 14.00p (2018: 13.36p), a rise of 4.8% |
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Operational
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Agriculture Division – revenue of £358.69m, operating profit of £2.95m |
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feed sales were impacted by the abnormally warm winter; lower volumes were in line with the sector |
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strong fertiliser volumes within the Glasson business |
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arable activities performed well, including grain trading activities |
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Specialist Agricultural Merchanting Division – revenue of £131.84m, operating profit of £5.24m |
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like-for-like sales were 3.5% down, mainly reflecting reduced demand for bagged feed and feed-related products |
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total sales were up, benefiting from first full year contributions from acquisitions, including Countrywide depots |
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Somerset-based Stanton Farm Supplies was acquired in April 2019 |
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Investment in manufacturing, distribution, systems and staff continued |
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Focus on advisory services to support farm efficiency and environmental goals |
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*Underlying pre-tax profit is a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) measure and is not intended as a substitute for GAAP measures and may not be calculated in the same way as those used by other companies. Refer to Note 17 for an explanation on how this measure has been calculated and the reasons for its use.
Gareth Davies, Chief Executive of Wynnstay, commented:
“This has been a difficult year for the agricultural market as a whole, and Wynnstay's results reflect this. Weather conditions reduced demand for some of our core products, particularly feed, while reduced farmgate prices and ongoing political uncertainty lowered farmer confidence and spending across the sector.
“As we look across the new financial year, we expect another challenging period. Nonetheless, we are well-placed to navigate through, and see opportunities to potentially strengthen our position within the agricultural supply chain sector, supported by our strong balance sheet.”