"There’s more to do, but we're definitely out of the woods," Findel (FDL) chief executive Roger Siddle told us as he unveiled the company's full-year results.
Last year, the home shopping and educational supplies group reported an 87 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profit to £22m. The solid improvement, which excludes £18.7m of exceptional costs, can be attributed to growth in the Express Gifts and Education divisions, which together accounted for some four-fifths of group revenue.
Express Gifts delivered a 10 per cent increase in revenue and a 41 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit to £30.7m, as management's self-help measures bore fruit. Education turned a corner as profit rose by £3.3m to £4.1m. It even won three customer service awards - which is a big deal for a business that three years ago couldn't deliver toilet paper to London schools, says Mr Siddle.
The Kleeneze and Kitbag divisions, however, will take longer to recover. Kitbag's financial performance deteriorated, leading to a £4.1m loss, although it did win contracts and renegotiate unprofitable ones, which will help this year. Kleeneze faced serious stock and distribution difficulties, so profit fell by one third to £1.3m.
Cantor Fitzgerald expects underlying pre-tax profit of £28.5m this financial year, giving EPS of 28.4p.
FINDEL (FDL) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 258p | MARKET VALUE: | £222m | |
TOUCH: | 257-258p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 330p | LOW: 158p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 469 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 130p* | NET DEBT: | 185% |
Year to 28 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 600 | -74.8 | -12.4 | nil |
2011 | 541 | -1.4 | -1.0 | nil |
2012 | 461 | -14.2 | -0.4 | nil |
2013 | 491 | 0.5 | 3.4 | nil |
2014 | 515 | 3.3 | 0.6 | nil |
% change | +5 | +575 | -84 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £90.3m, or 105p a share |