Findel (FDL) executive chairman David Sugden wants shareholders to judge the catalogue business's turnaround on four key metrics. First and second are the increases in revenue and pre-tax profit from continuing operations, which were up 2.8 per cent and 28 per cent respectively in the year to March 2015.
Third is the widening of the operating profit margin for continuing business, which grew from 6.5 to 7.6 per cent in a year. Fourth is the reduction in 'core bank debt' - defined as net debt minus a hefty securitisation facility - which fell 10.6 per cent to £86.9m.
Continuing business performance was driven by increases in sales and spend per customer at the core Express Gifts division, where operating profit leapt 9 per cent to £33.5m. But Kitbag, the sports product division Findel was planning to sell just six months ago, remains unprofitable, and a divestment has been shelved until a better value can be achieved. Findel Education did worse, losing both market share and sales. A £20m write-down of this business dragged down reported results.
Analysts at N+1 Singer forecast adjusted pre-tax profit of £29.5m and EPS of 25.7p for the year to March 2016, up from £26.5m and 23.4p in 2015.
FINDEL (FDL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 210p | MARKET VALUE: | £181m | |
| TOUCH: | 207-215p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 275p | LOW: 190p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 96p* | NET DEBT: | 250% | |
| Year to 27 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 541 | -1.4 | -1.0 | nil |
| 2012 | 461 | -14.2 | -0.4 | nil |
| 2013 | 491 | 0.5 | 3.4 | nil |
| 2014 | 468 | 5.6 | 4.5 | nil |
| 2015 | 481 | -1.7 | -7.2 | nil |
| % change | +3 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £50.2m, or 58p a share. | ||||
