The retirement of Enterprise Inns (ETI) founder and chief executive, Ted Tuppen, after more than 20 years at the helm led to inevitable questions over which direction the crisis-scarred pub group will now take. At least on the evidence of these results, Mr Tuppen leaves his successor with a considerably better inheritance now that the company's debt is firmly under control and the operational performance is on an upward trend.
Like-for-like net income was down by 2.9 per cent for the period, but this was a noticeable improvement on the 4.2 per cent decline the company experienced in the weather-affected first half. In fact, the pressure eased as the year progressed to the extent that the final quarter experienced growth of 0.6 per cent. The company's debt situation also looked more stable after the proceeds from the sale of unwanted pubs helped to cut the net debt burden by £216m to £2.5bn. Less positively, the freehold estate was revalued at £3.97m, forcing the company to take a non-cash impairment charge of £139m and pushing its statutory results into the red.
Deutsche Bank forecasts adjusted pre-tax profits of £120m for 2014, giving EPS of 18.6p, compared with £121m and 19p last time.
ENTERPRISE INNS (ETI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 148p | MARKET VALUE: | £744m | |
| TOUCH: | 147-148p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 160p | LOW: 66p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 277p* | NET DEBT: | 178% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 818 | 11.0 | 1.2 | nil |
| 2010 | 758 | -31.0 | 5.2 | nil |
| 2011 | 711 | -14.0 | 4.8 | nil |
| 2012 | 692 | 34.0 | 8.8 | nil |
| 2013 | 639 | -42.0 | -0.8 | nil |
| % change | -8 | - | - | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- *Includes intangible assets of £356m, or 70p a share | ||||
