Finsbury: preliminary results for FY 2017-2018

London / UK. (ffg) British Finsbury Food Group PLC, a leading UK speciality bakery manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, is pleased to announce its preliminary results for the financial year ended 30 June 2018.

The Company has delivered a resilient performance in an unprecedented inflationary environment with growth in like for like sales and in adjusted profit in a year where the Company closed a loss making bakery.

Adjusted operating profit, profit before tax and Ebitda exclude significant and non-recurring and other items and includes amortisation of intangibles. The adjusted operating profit has been given as in the opinion of the Board this will allow shareholders to gain a clearer understanding of the trading performance of the Group. The adjusted figures are referred to as alternative performance measures, the statutory performance measures have been given for revenue, profit before tax and EPS.

Summary

  • Like for like*1 Group Revenue 290.2 million GBP – up 2.4 percent,
    • Group Revenue 303.6 million GBP – down 3.4 percent
  • Adjusted Ebitda 25.6 million GBP – up 2.7 percent
  • Adjusted Operating Profit 17.8 million GBP – up 2.3 percent
  • Adjusted Operating Profit margin 5.9 percent – up 40bps
  • Adjusted Profit Before Tax 17.2 million GBP – up 4.0 percent
  • Statutory Profit Before Tax, down 65.7 percent to 4.5 million GBP
  • Adjusted Basic EPS 10.2p – up 4.1 percent,
  • Statutory Basic EPS down 76.1 percent to 1.7p
  • Net Debt 15.6 million GBP – down 10.5 percent
  • Capital Investment 12.6 million GBP in line with last year
  • Total Dividend 3.3p – up 10.0 percent

Strategic Highlights

  • Record capital investment of 12.6 million GBP, cumulatively 37.3 million GBP over last 3 years and 50.8 million GBP over last 5 years
    • Doubling of sales on Artisan bread following investment in 2016
    • Newly installed ‘automated craft’ sharing cake line fully commissioned and operational in the Cardiff bakery
    • New business wide IT platform successfully introduced to 3 sites, with the remaining 3 sites planned for FY19
  • Successful full year product launches including:
    • Our own Free From bakery brand, Wiso in Europe via Lightbody Europe
    • Mary Berry licence in the UK
  • Successfully implemented key investment change management projects
  • Developed Finsbury «Recipe for Growth» Business Model and Operating Principles to leverage future efficiency and growth across the Group
  • Foodservice growth of 5.7 percent.

Post Period Highlights

  • Acquisition of Ultrapharm Limited, a gluten free bakery manufacturer, for 17 million GBP cash at completion plus 3 million GBP of deferred consideration.

Like for like(*1) revenue is the revenue from operations excluding the revenue from closed bakeries during the first half of the current year.

Adjusted operating profit, profit before tax and Ebitda exclude significant and non-recurring and other items as shown in the reconciliation tables below.

Adjusted EPS has been calculated using earnings, amortisation of intangibles, significant and non-recurring and other items as shown in the tables below and in Note 6. The adjusted EPS has been given as in the opinion of the Board this will allow shareholders to gain a clearer understanding of the trading performance of the Group.

Chief Executive’s Comment

Commenting on the results, John Duffy, Chief Executive of Finsbury Food Group PLC, said: «Our performance over the period has further illustrated the Group’s resilience and our ability to deliver against our strategic priorities, ultimately allowing us to grow like for like sales and profit year on year, reduce our debt further after significant investment, and continue to grow the dividend. The ongoing capital investment programme and relentless efficiency focus of recent years has enabled us to not only cope with this challenging market environment but also maintain our margin.

«Throughout this period, we have continued to drive product innovation with the launch of both our Mary Berry cake brand with a number of product formats across a broad customer base and also our own Free From brand in Europe, Wiso. Complementing this, and in line with our strategy to diversify the Group by category, channel and geography, we were delighted to complete the acquisition of Ultrapharm, which will provide the Group with a significant opportunity to access the exciting and high growth marketplace, Free From, and broadens the Group’s manufacturing capabilities into Europe.

«We are confident that we are well positioned to deliver on our strategic objectives and capitalise on growth opportunities both organically and through future M+A.»

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