Its two recent acquisitions have led to a leap in the performance at cake and bread producer Finsbury Food (FIF), with group sales up a quarter to £320m. An extra week's trading compared with the prior year also helped, but the organic performance wasn't to be scoffed at either. Like-for-like revenue rose 5 per cent in spite of the deflationary market the group operates in.
The acquisitions of Fletchers Bakery and Johnstone's Food Services have enabled Finsbury to focus on the food service channel, an area it wasn't present in two years ago, but which now accounts for a fifth of sales. Clients include Costa Coffee and wholesaler Brakes - and it's worth noting that finance director Steve Boyd says growth in this segment has predominantly come via large contracts with existing customers. Mr Boyd also said a record £12.1m of capital expenditure included heavy investment in its artisan bread capabilities - Waitrose is a major client here - and the start of a major IT project to improve efficiency.
Analysts at Panmure Gordon expect pre-tax profit of £17.1m for the year to June 2017, leading to EPS of 10p, compared with £16.5m and 9.7p in FY2016.
| FINSBURY FOOD (FIF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 136p | MARKET VALUE: | £177m | |
| TOUCH: | 135-137p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 139p | LOW: 96p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.1% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 76p* | NET DEBT: | 19% | |
| Year to 2 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 179 | 4.6 | 8.0 | nil |
| 2013 | 177 | 6.1 | 12.3 | 0.75 |
| 2014 | 176 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 1.00 |
| 2015 | 256 | 8.5 | 5.8 | 2.50 |
| 2016 | 320 | 11.8 | 5.9 | 2.80 |
| % change | +25 | +39 | +2 | +12 |
Ex-div: 17 Nov Payment: 16 Dec *Includes intangible assets of £77.6m, or 59.5p a share | ||||
