DCC Regulatory News (DCC)

8 November 2011

Interim Results for the Six Months ended 30 September 2011

DCC, the sales, marketing, distribution and business support services Group, today announced its results for the six months ended 30 September 2011.

Commenting on the results Tommy Breen, Chief Executive, said:

"As indicated in our Interim Management Statement on 15 July 2011, DCC's operating profit in its first half (which was budgeted to represent approximately 30% of the profit for the year) was affected by the impact of the very mild weather in April and May on its largest division, DCC Energy, where profits were down by €10.6 million (35.1%) on a constant currency basis.

Each of the Group's other four divisions traded ahead of or in line with the prior year. In aggregate these four divisions grew operating profit by 7.6% on a constant currency basis. Notably, there was another strong performance by SerCom Distribution, driven by the benefit of acquisitions completed in the prior year and good organic growth, with revenue ahead by 20.1% and operating profit ahead by 28.0%, both on a constant currency basis.

Overall, the Group's operating profit decreased by €7.7 million (11.4%) on a constant currency basis.

Adjusted earnings per share decreased by 14.7% on a constant currency basis.

Since April, the Group has made very good progress in its development agenda, committing incremental acquisition and capital expenditure of €146 million, and continues to be active in pursuing a range of other development opportunities.

The Board has decided to pay an interim dividend of 27.42 cent per share, representing a 5.0% increase on the interim dividend paid in the prior year.

As DCC enters its seasonally more significant second half, the economic environment within the principal geographies in which the Group operates remains challenging and has become increasingly uncertain. The outlook for the full year to 31 March 2012 is framed against this background and is based on the important assumption that the overall weather pattern for the second half will be that of a normal winter (compared to the extremely cold winter in the prior year), notwithstanding what has been a mild October.

DCC now believes that operating profit and adjusted earnings per share, both on a constant currency basis, will be approximately 5% behind the prior year.

On this basis and assuming an exchange rate of Stg£0.8800 = €1, this would result in operating profit and adjusted earnings per share being approximately 7.5% behind the prior year on a reported basis.

The acquisitions completed over the last twelve months have strengthened DCC's strategic position and with its strong balance sheet the Group remains very well placed to continue the development of its business in existing and new geographies."

For reference, please contact:

Tommy Breen, Chief Executive Tel: +353 1 2799 400

Fergal O'Dwyer, Chief Financial Officer Email:investorrelations@dcc.ie

Redmond McEvoy, Investor Relations Manager www.dcc.ie

Interim Management Report

For the six months ended 30 September 2011

Results

A summary of the results for the six months ended 30 September 2011 is as follows:

Revenue

Group revenue increased by 14.4%, on a constant currency basis, primarily as a result of an increase in the price of oil relative to last year and the impact of acquisitions.

Operating profit performance

As indicated in the Interim Management Statement on 15 July 2011, DCC's operating profit in its first half (which was budgeted to represent approximately 30% of the profit for the year) was affected by the impact of the very mild weather in April and May on its largest division, DCC Energy, where profits were down by €10.6 million (35.1%) on a constant currency basis.

Each of the Group's other four divisions traded ahead of or in line with the prior year. In aggregate these four divisions grew operating profit by 7.6% on a constant currency basis. Notably, there was another strong performance by SerCom Distribution, driven by the benefit of acquisitions completed in the prior year and good organic growth, with revenue ahead by 20.1% and operating profit ahead by 28.0%, both on a constant currency basis.

Overall, the Group's operating profit decreased by €7.7 million (11.4%) on a constant currency basis.

Approximately 74% of the Group's operating profit in the period was denominated in sterling. The average exchange rate at which sterling profits were translated during the period was Stg£0.8851 = €1, compared to an average translation rate of Stg£0.8476 = €1 for the same period in the prior year, a reduction of 4% which resulted in an adverse translation impact on Group operating profit of €1.9 million. Consequently on a reported basis operating profit decreased by 14.2%.

The benefits of cost efficiencies achieved across the Group in prior years were maintained, with Group operating costs modestly lower than the prior year (on a constant currency basis and adjusted for the impact of acquisitions and disposals).

Finance costs (net)

Net finance costs for the period increased to €8.3 million (2010: €7.4 million) primarily as a result of higher average net debt levels. The Group's net debt averaged €170 million during the period compared to €155 million during the six months ended 30 September 2010.

Profit before net exceptionals, amortisation of intangible assets and tax

Profit before net exceptionals, amortisation of intangible assets and tax of €50.0 million decreased by 14.4% on a constant currency basis (a decrease of 17.3% on a reported basis).

Net exceptional charge and amortisation of intangible assets

The Group incurred a net exceptional charge before tax of €7.3 million as follows:

Restructuring of certain of the Group's pension arrangements during the year gave rise to an exceptional gain of €2.7 million.

IFRS 3 (revised) requires that the professional and tax costs (such as stamp duty) relating to the evaluation and completion of an acquisition are expensed in the Income Statement whereas previously they were capitalised as part of the acquisition cost. During the first half these costs amounted to €1.7 million.

There was a non-cash charge of €3.1 million in relation to the impairment of the carrying value of a subsidiary which was disposed of after the period end and of the carrying value of an associated company.

The balance of the net exceptional charge relates primarily to restructuring costs in one of the Group's Irish Food & Beverage subsidiaries and the integration costs of recently acquired businesses.

The charge for the amortisation of intangible assets was €5.3 million (2010: €5.0 million).

Taxation

The effective tax rate for the Group was 20%, the same as for the six months ended 30 September 2010, and compares to 21% for the full year ended 31 March 2011, the reduction being primarily due to a reduction in the UK corporation tax rate. 

Adjusted earnings per share

Adjusted earnings per share of 47.53 cent decreased by 14.7% on a constant currency basis (a decrease of 17.6% on a reported basis).

Interim dividend increase of 5.0%

The Board has decided to increase the interim dividend by 5.0% to 27.42 cent per share. This dividend will be paid on 2 December 2011 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 18 November 2011.

Cash flow

As with its operating profit, the Group's cash flow is weighted towards its second half. The cash flow generated by the Group for the six months ended 30 September 2011 can be summarised as follows:

Working capital remained tightly controlled with net working capital days at 30 September 2011 of 5.4 days compared to 5.9 days at 30 September 2010.

Acquisition and Capital Expenditure

Including acquisitions committed to since 30 September 2011, committed acquisition and capital expenditure amounted to €145.8 million, as follows:

Committed acquisition expenditure, from 1 April 2011 up to the date of this statement, amounted to €119.9 million.

On 31 October 2011, DCC Energy completed the acquisition of certain oil distribution assets formerly owned by Total in Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands for a debt/cash free consideration of approximately €67 million. These businesses, which employ 550 people and sold 1.5 billion litres of fuel in 2010, comprise the following:

·; the trade, fixed assets, stock and goodwill of Total Butler, a transport, commercial and home heating oil distribution business with sales volumes in 2010 of 670 million litres. Total Butler has a network of 40 depots across England and Wales and a fleet of circa 200 leased delivery vehicles.

·; contracts to supply transport fuels to circa 300 dealer owned dealer operated retail service stations (currently branded Total). Volumes sold under these contracts in 2010 amounted to 710 million litres.

·; the entire issued share capital of Total's oil distribution and retail service station businesses on the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. In 2010, together these businesses sold 120 million litres of fuel.

This acquisition represents a further significant step in DCC's growth strategy in oil distribution in Britain and considerably extends DCC Energy's presence in England and Wales. DCC has agreed certain undertakings with the UK Office of Fair Trading ("OFT"), the effect of which is that the Total Butler business will be held separate from DCC's existing oil distribution businesses in Britain pending completion by the OFT of a review of the acquisition of the business.

During the period, DCC Energy also completed the acquisition of a number of smaller oil distributors in Britain, Austria and Northern Ireland.

In May 2011, DCC Healthcare invested €9 million in acquiring the business, product licences and certain other assets of Neolab Limited, a British generic pharmaceuticals business based in Hampshire. The Neolab business is involved in the sourcing, registration, sales, marketing and distribution of generic pharmaceuticals and sells into the British community pharmacy sector under the Neolab and private label brands. Its portfolio covers a broad range of therapy areas including analgesia, respiratory, cardiology and psychiatry. There is a good strategic fit between the Neolab business and DCC Healthcare's existing pharma activities and the two businesses were integrated, which will deepen DCC's product registration expertise, broaden its product portfolio and open up new channels to market and supplier relationships. The Neolab product range and pipeline of new product registrations is well placed to benefit from market trends towards generic prescribing.

On 23 June 2011, DCC Environmental Britain Limited announced the acquisition of Oakwood Fuels Limited for an initial consideration of €11 million with additional amounts to be paid in future years based on the performance of the business. Oakwood is a British waste oil and hazardous waste collection, processing and recycling business based in Nottinghamshire. It collects waste lubricant oil and hazardous waste from businesses in a variety of sectors and converts the waste oil to processed fuel oil which is then sold to customers for use in a number of applications, including road surfacing operations, aggregate drying, industrial and agricultural drying, power stations, large boilers and furnaces. This acquisition broadens DCC Environmental's service offering into additional complementary waste streams in Britain and capitalises on the trend towards more sustainable waste management and in particular increased waste recovery and recycling. In August 2011, DCC Environmental Britain Limited also completed the acquisition of Maxi Waste Limited, a small recycling business operating from two facilities in Leicester.

The cash outflow on acquisitions in the six months to 30 September 2011, which was €65 million, includes only those acquisitions completed during the six months ended 30 September 2011 and deferred acquisition payments already provided for. This includes the completion on 30 September 2011 of the acquisition of Pace Fuelcare, which had been announced in February 2011.

Net capital expenditure in the first half of €25.9 million (2010: €27.4 million) compares to a depreciation charge of €26.8 million (2010: €25.9 million).

Financial Strength

DCC's financial position remains very strong. At 30 September 2011, the Group had net debt of €145.5 million and total equity of €929.5 million. DCC has significant cash resources and relatively long term debt maturities. Substantially all of the Group's debt has been raised in the US private placement market with an average credit margin of 1.23% over floating Euribor/Libor and an average maturity of 5.5 years from 30 September 2011.

Outlook

As DCC enters its seasonally more significant second half, the economic environment within the principal geographies in which the Group operates remains challenging and has become increasingly uncertain. The outlook for the full year to 31 March 2012 is framed against this background and is based on the important assumption that the overall weather pattern for the second half will be that of a normal winter (compared to the extremely cold winter in the prior year), notwithstanding what has been a mild October.

DCC now believes that operating profit and adjusted earnings per share, both on a constant currency basis, will be approximately 5% behind the prior year.

On this basis and assuming an exchange rate of Stg£0.8800 = €1, this would result in operating profit and adjusted earnings per share being approximately 7.5% behind the prior year on a reported basis.

The acquisitions completed over the last twelve months have strengthened DCC's strategic position and with its strong balance sheet the Group remains very well placed to continue the development of its business in existing and new geographies.

Operating review

DCC Energy had a difficult first half, with operating profit 35.1% (€10.6 million) behind the prior year on a constant currency basis, as the business was significantly impacted by the very mild weather conditions in the first quarter.

Since the start of the calendar year, average temperatures in Britain and Ireland have been significantly warmer than the prior year and the 30 year average. This mild weather, in conjunction with the high price of product and the difficult economic environment, adversely impacted demand which resulted in spare capacity in the industry, leading to pressure on margins generally.

DCC Energy sold 3.2 billion litres of product during the first half, a decrease of 2.7% over the first half of the prior year. Organically, volumes declined by 4.9% on the prior year.

In the oil business in Britain and Ireland, heating oil volumes and margins were lower than the prior year reflecting the impact of the mild weather. DCC Energy's oil distribution businesses in Continental Europe (Denmark and Austria) performed well during the period, being less impacted by weather factors.

As with the oil businesses, demand in the LPG business for heating products was weak, with overall volumes down by 4.6%. The business also experienced a less favourable product pricing environment.

The fuel card business in Britain had a good first half and further strengthened its market share.

DCC Energy made excellent progress towards its key strategic objective of consolidating its position in the British oil distribution market, including the completion of the acquisition of Pace Fuelcare, a 455 million litre oil distribution business which operates from 19 locations across southern England (completed on 30 September 2011). On 31 October 2011, DCC Energy completed the acquisition of certain oil distribution assets previously owned by Total in Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Total businesses sold in aggregate 1.5 billion litres of product in 2010 to a broad range of dealer owned dealer operated retail service stations, commercial, industrial, agricultural and domestic customers.

DCC Energy is at the very early stages of developing a presence in the alternative energy sector with an initial focus on the provision of energy solutions to customers across the division, allowing them to reduce their carbon footprint. DCC Energy has recently acquired a small business in Britain which distributes a broad range of alternative energy products including ground and air source heat pumps, solar panels and energy control systems to domestic and commercial customers.

DCC Energy has welcomed the publication (on 18 October 2011) by the UK Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") of its Market Study into the off-grid energy sector. In particular DCC Energy welcomes the following findings from the study in relation to the Heating Oil market:

·; that on the whole competition works well, with consumers offered a good choice of suppliers and the off-grid sector does not need price regulation

·; that 97% of off-grid households live in a location served by at least four known suppliers

·; that competition has constrained prices over the year as a whole and profit margins have not been excessive

The full Market Study Report can be found at http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/markets-work/completed/off-grid.

The outlook for DCC Energy, as it enters the seasonally more significant second half of its financial year, is set against the important assumption that there will be a return to a more normal weather pattern compared to the very mild conditions encountered so far this year. On this basis, DCC Energy continues to anticipate that operating profit on a constant currency basis for the year to 31 March 2012 will be behind the prior year, which benefited from an extremely cold winter.

DCC SerCom achieved strong operating profit growth of 10.3% on a constant currency basis driven by another excellent performance in SerCom Distribution which generated revenue growth of 20.1% and operating profit growth of 28.0% also both on a constant currency basis, reflecting the benefit of acquisitions completed in the prior year and good organic growth.

DCC SerCom's Retail distribution business achieved strong profit growth as a result of a full six months contribution from Comtrade in France (which was acquired in the prior year). The businesses in Britain and Ireland continued to invest in their product and service offerings, including logistics and web fulfilment, but were held back somewhat by the weak home entertainment market. The Retail business in France had an excellent result reflecting good organic growth and the acquisition of Comtrade.

DCC SerCom's Reseller distribution business had an excellent first half, achieving significant profit growth with strong organic growth complemented by the acquisition of Advent Data (announced in March 2011). The business made further market share gains in the distribution of consumer IT products and also benefited from a number of development initiatives undertaken during the first half, including the introduction of new suppliers to support its networking and mobile communications business units.

DCC SerCom's Enterprise business achieved excellent operating profit growth with improved performances in France and Spain and the benefit of a full six months contribution from Codework, the UK business acquired in September 2010.

DCC SerCom's Supply Chain Management business experienced a very challenging first half and operating profit declined significantly as a result of reduced demand from a number of its major customers. Steps have been taken to address the cost base and the business has recently won a new contract which will contribute to the second half.

Despite a challenging economic environment in its principal markets, DCC SerCom anticipates that strong constant currency operating profit growth will be achieved for the year to 31 March 2012, reflecting the benefit of recent acquisitions and good business development activity.

DCC Healthcare increased operating profit from continuing activities by 2.8% on a constant currency basis, against a challenging trading background, particularly in Ireland.

DCC Hospital Supplies & Services operated in a difficult environment in Ireland, where budgetary constraints within the public healthcare system have continued to reduce demand and increase price pressure. DCC strengthened its position in the Pharma sector in Britain in May through the acquisition of the business and certain assets of Neolab, a British generic pharma business, which boosted revenues in the first half and will contribute to profitability in the second half. While DCC Hospital Supplies & Services maintained its revenue levels, including achieving good growth in certain categories of medical consumables, margin was impacted by the market conditions in Ireland.

DCC Health & Beauty Solutions generated excellent revenue and profit growth in nutraceuticals driven by further revenue growth in international markets; however, overall profit was held back by the impact on its beauty operations of destocking by one of its important customers.

While pressure on healthcare spending in Ireland will continue to impact DCC Hospital Supplies & Services, DCC Health & Beauty Solutions expects to generate profit growth in the second half. Overall, DCC Healthcare expects operating profit from continuing activities for the year to 31 March 2012, on a constant currency basis, to be broadly in line with the prior year.

DCC Environmental generated an increase in operating profit of 17.0% on a constant currency basis, benefiting from the first time contribution from Oakwood, which has performed strongly since its acquisition in June 2011.

Overall the business in Britain performed satisfactorily in the first half and successfully increased the volume of waste diverted from landfill. Oakwood is a waste oil and hazardous waste collection, processing and recycling business. The waste lubricant oil collected is converted to processed fuel oil, which is then sold to customers for use in a number of industrial applications. This acquisition broadens DCC Environmental's service offering in Britain into additional complementary waste streams and capitalises on the trend towards more sustainable waste management and in particular increased waste recovery and recycling. The business also added two materials recycling facilities in Leicester through the acquisition of Maxi Waste in August 2011.

The business in Ireland performed in line with the prior year in what continues to be a challenging market.

DCC Environmental anticipates that it will report a very strong increase in constant currency operating profit for the year to 31 March 2012.

Operating profit in DCC Food & Beverage for the first half increased by 11.5% on a constant currency basis, primarily as a result of a good performance in Indulgence Foods.

Indulgence Foods delivered very good operating profit growth benefiting from the prior year's acquisition of the Goodall's and YR brands and tight cost control. In Healthfoods, the Kelkin brand continues to grow as it expands its range of "healthy choice" products, although sales of certain third party agency brands declined.

The Frozen & Chilled logistics business performed in line with the prior year. However, since the end of the first half it has lost a major contract and consequently DCC Food & Beverage anticipates a decline in operating profit in the year to 31 March 2012.

This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent DCC's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risks and uncertainties. DCC believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, because they involve risk and uncertainty, which are in some cases beyond DCC's control, actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The Board is responsible for the Group's risk management systems, which are designed to identify, manage and mitigate potential material risks to the achievement of the Group's strategic and business objectives. Details of the principal strategic, operational, compliance and financial risks facing the Group are set out on pages 54 to 55 of the 2011 Annual Report. These risks continue to be the principal risks and uncertainties facing the Group for the remaining six months of the financial year.

Presentation of results and dial-in facility

There will be a presentation of these results to analysts and investors/fund managers in Dublin at 9.00 am today. The slides for this presentation can be downloaded from DCC's website, www.dcc.ie. A dial-in facility will be available for this meeting:

Ireland: 1800 946 811

UK: 0800 678 1161

International: +44 1296 311 600

Passcode: 948 813

This announcement and further information on DCC is available at www.dcc.ie

Group Income Statement

Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

Group Balance Sheet

Group Statement of Changes in Equity

Group Cash Flow Statement