The rise of online shopping - and thus online returns in areas such as fashion footwear - have sent droves of blue-chip brands to Clipper Logistics (CLG). A spate of contract wins, 70 per cent of which reportedly came from recommendations, sent adjusted operating profit up 18 per cent to £6.2m in the six months to October.
Clipper's rapidly growing e-fulfilment and returns management services won a number of these high-profile contracts, including a new collaboration to support John Lewis's click-and-collect proposition. Together with a £7.8m contribution from Servicecare, which was acquired last December for £5.7m to add electronics to the group's service range, that pushed the division's revenue up 58 per cent.
Finance officer David Hodkin told us the group's efforts to design solutions for customers were also pivotal to a series of contract wins in the offline unit, which offers warehousing, stock management and other such services. He was also keen to talk up Clipper's future prospects, predicting that the proportion of retail activity taking place online will soar from 12 per cent now to 33 per cent by 2022. Management reported a very successful trading period over the long weekend spanning Black Friday to Cyber Monday, and expects a busy Christmas and subsequent flurry of returns.
Broker Numis expects adjusted EPS to rise from 8.4p in the year to April 2015 to 10.5p in FY2016.
| CLIPPER LOGISTICS (CLG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 260p | MARKET VALUE: | £260m | |
| TOUCH: | 250-263p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 310p | LOW: 136p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2% | PE RATIO: | 29 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 18p* | NET DEBT: | 107% | |
| Half-year to 31 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 112 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 1.6 |
| 2015 | 142 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 2.0 |
| % change | +27 | +53 | +59 | +25 |
Ex-div: 10 Dec Payment: 31 Dec *Includes intangible assets of £24.8m, or 25p a share | ||||
