Greencore has had a busy year, and the convenience food producer did well to maintain operating profits despite the tough trading climate. Indeed, the year's key events included a failed merger with Northern Foods - that cost £12.3m - and, more recently, another bid approach that also came to nothing.
The convenience food side did well enough and pushed operating profit ahead by 5.3 per cent to £49.3m in the period. Although a combination of rising costs and a weak UK retail market nibbled away at the operating margin - which fell from 6.9 per cent to 6.7 per cent. And operating profits from the ingredients and property division fell 53.8 per cent to £2.2m, mainly due to lower profits from the group's property side. However, since the year-end, outline planning consent has been secured for mixed use development at the site in Littlehampton. Meanwhile, group finances received a lift from a £68.9m rights issue this year which helped to fund the acquisition of Uniq; formerly Unigate. Although, total exceptional costs - including the Uniq deal - reached £24.3m.
Investec Securities expects adjusted pre-tax profit of €58.5m for 2012, giving adjusted EPS of 13.6¢ (2011: €40.2m/12¢).
| GREENCORE GROUP (GNC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 66¢ | MARKET VALUE: | €254m | |
| TOUCH: | 65-66¢ | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 117¢ | LOW: 52¢ |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 7.2% | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 50p** | NET DEBT: | 72% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢)* | Dividend per share (¢)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1.27 | 59.1 | 19.5 | 10.5 |
| 2008 | 1.31 | 41.8 | 13.7 | 10.7 |
| 2009 | 1.10 | -0.41 | -2.54 | 5.96 |
| £m | £m | p | ¢ | |
| 2010 | 740 | 26.2 | 8.10 | 5.96 |
| 2011 | 804 | 11.2 | 7.00 | 4.78 |
| % change | +9 | -57 | -14 | -20 |
Ex-div: 16 Dec Payment: 2 Apr £1=€1.17 *Adjusted for 2011's five-for-six rights issue **Includes intangible assets of £472m, or 123p a share | ||||
