“A strong first half performance”
Group Financial Headlines:
- Revenue increased 4.5% to £733.2m with organic revenue** up 2.8%
- Adjusted EBIT* increased 9.4% to £80.5m, with organic adjusted EBIT* up 6.0%
- Organic adjusted EBIT margin* increased 40bps
- Adjusted profit after tax* increased 12.2% to £49.8m
- Profit after tax decreased 13.7% to £33.3m, including £21.6m of planned business capability programme costs
- Adjusted earnings per share* increased 12.2% to 21.2p and the interim dividend increased 9.7%
Strategic highlights:
- Strong growth in Q2, overcoming poor weather in GB, Ireland and France, and absorbing Palmer & Harvey bad debt provision of £3.3m
- Positive price/mix and volume delivering balanced revenue growth
- Entering the soft drinks industry levy environment in GB with strong momentum, with Robinsons back in growth and Pepsi MAX continuing to outperform a highly competitive cola category
- Margin growth delivered through disciplined revenue management and cost control
- Good progress made on Business Capability Programme, capital spend in final phase, with cost and commercial benefits being delivered
| 28 weeks ended 15 April 2018 £m |
28 weeks ended 16 April 2017 £m Restated |
% change Actual Exchange Rate |
% change Organic Constant Exchange Rate** |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 733.2 | 701.3 | 4.5% | 2.8% |
|
Adjusted EBIT* |
80.5 | 73.6 | 9.4% | 6.0% |
|
Adjusted EBIT margin* |
11.0% | 10.5% | 50bps | 40bps |
|
Profit after tax |
33.3 | 38.6 | (13.7)% | |
|
Basic EPS |
12.6p | 14.7p | (14.3)% | |
|
Adjusted EPS* |
21.2p | 18.9p | 12.2% | |
|
Interim dividend per share |
7.9p | 7.2p | 9.7% | |
| Adjusted net debt/EBITDA | 2.5x | 2.4x | (0.1)x |
In the current period acquisition related amortisation has been included within adjusting items in order to simplify the Group’s financial reporting. This has resulted in adjusted EBIT replacing adjusted EBITA as one of the Group’s KPIs. This however in practice has no impact on the amounts reported due to the reclassification of acquisition related amortisation. Throughout this report, where relevant, 2017 comparatives have been restated for IFRS15: Revenue from contracts with customers. Full details of this restatement can be found on pages 32 to 34. * Items marked with an asterisk throughout this document are non-GAAP measures, definitions and relevant reconciliations are provided in the Glossary on page 10 and pages 29 to 31. ** Organic constant exchange rate adjusts for the impact of Bela Ischia and constant currency. Detailed adjustments are shown on pages 29 to 31.
Simon Litherland, Chief Executive Officer commented:
“We have delivered a strong first half performance with solid revenue, margin and earnings growth. We have also made good progress in innovating to meet consumer needs, growing our international presence and transforming our supply chain. While it is too soon to guide on the ongoing consumer impact of the soft drinks levy, early indications of the competitor and customer response are broadly as we anticipated. We have exciting commercial plans in place for the second half and I remain confident of continuing to make progress this year.”
There will be a live webcast of the presentation given today at 09:00am by Simon Litherland (Chief Executive Officer) and Mathew Dunn (Chief Financial Officer). The webcast will be available at www.britvic.com/investors with a transcript available in due course.