Eddie Stobart announces its full year results for the 12 months ended 30 November 2018.
Underlying Results | 2018 | 2017 | Change | Statutory Results | 2018 | 2017 | Change | |
Revenue | £843.1m | £623.9m | 35.1% | Revenue | £843.1m | £623.9m | 35.1% | |
EBIT1 | £55.3m | £48.5m | 14.0% | Operating profit before exceptionals | £37.5m | £31.0m | 21.0% | |
EBIT1 % | 6.6% | 7.8% | (1.2)ppts | Operating profit after exceptionals | £29.7m | £26.6m | 11.7% | |
EBITDA2 | £62.9m | £55.3m | 13.7% | |||||
EBITDA2 % | 7.5% | 8.9% | (1.4)ppts | Profit before tax | £23.6m | £9.9m | 138.4% | |
Adjusted profit before tax3 | £49.2m | £37.3m | 31.9% | Profit after tax | £16.2m | £4.9m | 230.6% | |
Adjusted profit after tax4 | £41.8m | £32.3m | 29.4% | |||||
Dividend per share | 6.30p | 5.80p | 8.6% | |||||
Adjusted free cash5 | £1.7m | £30.0m | (94.3)% | Net cash from operating activities | £(3.3)m | £18.9m | (117.5)% | |
Adjusted earnings per share6 | 11.4p | 9.8p | 16.3% | Earnings per share | 4.4p | 1.2p | 266.7% | |
Net debt | £159.7m | £109.5m | 45.8% |
Alternative performance measures (see note 3 for reconciliation to statutory measures)
1 Underlying EBIT is defined as Profit from operating activities before exceptional items, amortisation of acquired intangibles, employee share costs funded by previous parent holding group, charges to the income statement relating to the management incentive plan and long term incentive plan, investor and management charges, the impact of severe weather, start-up costs associated with contract wins, including the gain arising on any lease agreements and Group’s share of profit from equity accounted investees.
2 Underlying EBITDA is defined as Underlying EBIT before depreciation of property, plant and equipment.
3 Adjusted profit before tax is defined as profit before tax adding back exceptional items, amortisation of acquired intangibles, employee share costs funded by previous parent holding group, charges to the income statement relating to the management incentive plan and long term incentive plan, the impact of severe weather, start-up costs associated with contract wins and including the gain arising on lease agreements.
4 Adjusted profit after tax is Adjusted profit before tax less tax
5 Adjusted free cash flow is defined as cash generated from operating activities less purchase of property, plant and equipment adding back proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and less income taxes paid and adding back the cash impact of exceptional items.
6 Adjusted earnings per share is defined as adjusted profit after tax divided by the weighted average basic number of shares in issue at 30 November 2018
Group highlights:
- 2018 represents a major milestone in delivering Eddie Stobart’s strategy of becoming a full end-to-end solution provider
- Strong revenue growth of 35% to £843.1m (2017: £623.9m), driven by new contract wins with an annualised total revenue of £162m, organic growth from existing customers and contributions from our acquired businesses
- All customer sectors achieved significant growth with E-commerce revenues growing 65% to £171.0m (2017: £103.4m), Retail increasing by 43% to £241.1m (2017: £168.6m), Consumer increasing by 26% to £182.1m (2017: £144.6m) and MIB growing 16% to £211.1m (2017: £182.0m)
- Continued strong performance from our acquired businesses iForce Group, The Pallet Network Group (TPN), The Logistic People and Speedy Freight following successful integration and delivery of planned synergies
- Underlying EBIT1 growth of 14% to £55.3m (2017: £48.5m)
- Underlying EBIT1 margin reduced from 7.8% to 6.6% reflecting temporary costs of reoptimising the provider networks as a result of major contract wins in the first half of the year. Margins are expected to improve in 2019
- Statutory profit before tax increased 138% to £23.6m (2017: £9.9m)
- Statutory operating profit before exceptional costs grew 21% from £31.0m to £37.5m
- Net debt increased to £159.7m (2017: £109.5m) reflecting new debt associated with the acquisition of TPN and working capital investment to support year on year revenue increase which is expected to normalise in 2019
- Adjusted earnings per share increased 16.3% to 11.4p (2017: 9.8p) and statutory earnings per share is 4.4 pence per share for the year (2017: 1.2 pence per share)
- Final dividend proposed of 4.76 pence per share making a total dividend of 6.30 pence per share for the full year
Chief Executive Alex Laffey commented:
“We were pleased with our strong performance in 2018, during which we made significant progress in delivering our strategy of becoming a full-service logistics and supply chain organisation.
We continue to develop our end-to-end supply chain capabilities and in June acquired The Pallet Network, which gave the Group a presence in pallet distribution across the UK and provides cross-selling opportunities to serve our customers’ growing needs. All of our acquired businesses traded in line with expectations during the year and delivered their planned synergies.
Whilst we remain mindful of the current political and economic uncertainty, we are confident that our unique operating model provides us with the flexibility to respond rapidly to changing market conditions.
The new financial year has started in line with the Board’s expectations.”
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