16 Jul 2015 07:00
Date: | 16 July 2015 |
On behalf of: | Finsbury Food Group plc ('Finsbury', 'the Company' or 'the Group') |
Embargoed until: 0700hrs | |
Finsbury Food Group plc
Pre-Close Trading Statement
Finsbury Food Group plc (AIM: FIF), a leading UK speciality bakery manufacturer of cake, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels, is today providing an update on trading for the full financial year, ended 27th June 2015, prior to entering its close period.
The Board is pleased to report that, following the positive half year trading performance, strong trading has continued in the second half and the Group will outperform its current EBITDA and profit expectations. Total Company sales revenues grew to £256.2m, an increase of 45.8% on prior year. This includes organic growth of £10.7m, an increase of 6.1% versus prior year, primarily within Cake.
The Fletchers acquisition, completed at the end of October 2014, contributed £69.3m of additional sales revenue. Consequently the UK Bakery division grew by 52.2%.The acquisition of the assets and business of Johnstones Just Desserts Limited ('Johnstones'), a supplier of cake to the national coffee shop chains completed on 16th June 2015 and, occurred too late in the year to be material. The Overseas division, the Company's 50% jointly owned European business, grew by 1% versus the prior year in sterling terms.
The second half performance of the Company benefited from the strong growth in sales revenues, together with an earlier than planned delivery of the Fletchers acquisition synergy benefits. This strong performance was further complemented by capital expenditure, depreciation, debt and associated financing costs all being lower than previously forecast.
The Group continues to expect capital expenditure in the year ahead to increase as investment within the Finsbury and Fletchers business continues and the Directors look to maximize the opportunity within Johnstones.
As previously stated, consumer markets remain challenging and we anticipate that the Fletchers and Johnstone's acquisitions will drive the Group's growth in the new financial year. The Board believes the larger, more diversified speciality bakery group is a strong multi-channel business, well equipped to deliver growth and improved shareholder value over the coming years.
John Duffy, Chief Executive of Finsbury Food Group plc, commented:
"I am pleased to report the Group's continued strong trading with growth being driven both organically and also through acquisition. Our EBITDA and profit outperformance illustrates that we have the right strategy in place, particularly in the continued challenging market conditions.
"As one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK, we believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver against our strategy and are confident that the business, with our latest acquisitions, will drive Group growth and shareholder value."
For further information: |
|
|
|
Finsbury Food Group plc | www.finsburyfoods.co.uk |
John Duffy (Chief Executive) | 029 20 357 500 |
Stephen Boyd (Finance Director) |
|
|
|
Cenkos Securities plc |
|
Bobbie Hilliam (Corporate Finance) |
|
Oliver Baxendale (Sales) |
|
|
|
Redleaf | finsbury@redleafpr.com |
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett | 020 7382 4730 |
Jenny Bahr |
|
Notes to Editors:
▪ Finsbury Food Group Plc (AIM: FIF) is a leading UK manufacturer of cake and bread bakery goods, supplying a broad range of blue chip customers within both the Grocery retail and 'out of home eating' foodservice sectors including major multiples and leading foodservice providers.
▪ Following the acquisition of the Fletchers Group of bakeries, the Company is one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK with annualised sales approaching £300 million.
▪ The Company's bakery product range is comprehensive and includes:
- Large premium and celebration cakes;
- Small snacking cake formats such as cake slices and bites.
- Artisan, healthy lifestyle and organic breads through to rolls, muffins (sweet and savoury) and morning pastries, all of which are available both fresh and frozen dependent on customer channel requirements.
▪ The Company is now the second largest manufacturer of ambient packaged cake (excluding In Store Bakery) in the UK, a market valued at £948m (Source Symphony IRI 52 w/e 20th June 2015). The annual bread and morning goods market has a value in excess of £3.5 billion (source Kantar Worldpanel). The UK foodservice bakery sector is worth approximately £900 million per annum, 70 per cent of which is in morning goods.
▪ The Company comprises a UK Bakery division and an Overseas division:
- UK Bakery has manufacturing sites in Cardiff, Hamilton, East Kilbride, Salisbury, Sheffield, London and Manchester.
- The overseas sector comprise the Company's 50% owned Company Lightbody Stretz Ltd supplies and distributes the Group's UK manufactured products and third party products primarily to Europe.