It might only make up 15 per cent of group sales but there is a lot going on in Greencore's (GNC) US convenience food division. Greater-than-anticipated demand for a key client's breakfast sandwich led to supply chain disruption, but its extended Jacksonville site is now firing on all cylinders. Chief financial officer Alan Williams puts the company's US sales at roughly $300m (£199m), and estimates existing capacity could deal with twice this amount. Like-for-like revenues rose 15 per cent here as the company expanded in the convenience and coffee shop market.
The UK food division generates the largest chunk of revenues, at 40 per cent. Noteworthy here is a £12m investment in building a new site next to its recently extended Northampton facility. The extension was intended to enable the site to deal with several types of product, but demand for sandwiches in triangle packages means this will be its sole focus, while the new-build takes on things such as salads.
Analysts at Numis expect pre-tax profits for the 2016 financial year of £88m leading to EPS of 19.7p compared to £78m and 18p in FY15.
| GREENCORE (GNC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 312p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.3bn | |
| TOUCH: | 312-313p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 359p | LOW: 254p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.0% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 78p* | NET DEBT: | 84% | |
| Year to 25 Sep | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 0.80 | 11.2 | 7.0 | 3.9 |
| 2012 | 1.16 | 29.9 | 9.0 | 4.3 |
| 2013 | 1.20 | 41.5 | 17.1 | 4.8 |
| 2014 | 1.27 | 44.4 | 11.8 | 5.5 |
| 2015 | 1.34 | 59.4 | 14.3 | 6.2 |
| % change | +5 | +34 | +21 | +13 |
Ex-div: 3 Dec Payment: 4 Apr *Includes intangible assets of £508m or 124p a share £1=$1.51 | ||||
