These full-year results from Premier Foods (PFD) are complicated by a year-end change from December to April. That renders the reported result below pretty meaningless. It's better to look at the pro-forma figures, and here things are looking up for the long-suffering food producer.
Sales declines are easing: in the first three months of the 2015 calendar year group revenues were down just 0.6 per cent, while branded sales - the bulk of the business - were flat. That's a huge improvement on the 6 per cent decline reported in the first half of 2014. Trading profit of £131m was in line with expectations, while adjusted pre-tax profit grew 11 per cent to £83.2m.
A number of factors are driving Premier's resurgence: much higher marketing spend - notably on television adverts - rebranding and a string of new products. As a result, Mr Kipling cakes, Bisto, Cadbury cakes and Ambrosia all delivered volume growth and market share gains in the first quarter. There are fresh products in the pipeline as well, including Sharwood's stir fry melts. Meanwhile, an equity fundraising slashed net debt, and the pension deficit is shrinking.
Credit Suisse expects adjusted EPS of 8.4p this year, up from 8.0p last year.
| PREMIER FOODS (PFD) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 46p | MARKET VALUE: | £380m | |
| TOUCH: | 46-47p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 62p | LOW:26p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 65p* | NET DEBT: | 108% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2.23 | 28.5 | 0.2 | nil |
| 2011 | 2.00 | -259.1 | -95.9 | nil |
| 2012 | 1.07 | -8.0 | 28.2 | nil |
| 2013 | 0.84 | 4.4 | -12.8 | nil |
| 15 months to 4 Apr | (£bn) | (£m) | (p) | (p) |
| 2015 | 0.96 | -135.6 | -12.7 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
Ex-div:na Payment:na *Includes intangible assets of £1.17bn or 142p a share | ||||
