Conviviality Retail toasts full year growth and new resilience

(ShareCast News) - Bargain Booze operator Conviviality Retail doubled annual earnings and cash flow and says it is a "stronger and more resilient business able to thrive in uncertain economic times".Revenues in the year to 1 May of £864.5m were 137% higher than the prior year thanks in part to the acquisitions of wholesaler Matthew Clark in October and events bar operator Peppermint in December.Gross margins were lifted 1.3% to 11.5% and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 135% to £30.2m, with adjusted pre-tax profits up 124% to £21.7m.Diluted earnings per share rose 27% to 14.2p and free cashflow 100% to £11.4m, which promoted the full year dividend to be hiked 14% to 9.5p.Within the business, Conviviality's original branded, franshise off-licences generated roughly flat revenues and EBITDA, while Matthew Clark increased sales 5% and EBITDA by 18%."The experienced management team in place, coupled with the well invested and compelling businesses with market leading expertise and current trading in line with expectations, gives the board confidence for the future," said chief executive Diana Hunter."We look to the year ahead with a stronger and more resilient business able to thrive in uncertain economic times. It is our intention to continue to deliver against our integration plan during the year, ensuring the benefits are realised from our transformational acquisitions."Management expect to extract further synergies around distribution and logistics of between £1m to £1.5m to come through in the 2018 financial year.Current trading in the early months of the year were said to be in line with management's expectations, with Matthew Clark revenue up 4.8%, post-year-end acquisition Bibendum winning 110 new customers but Conviviality seeing some softening in June with like-for-like sales from 1 May to 3 July 2016 being down 2.1%.