Shares in forecourt retailer Applegreen (APGN) have performed well since late July and the momentum looks set to continue. The shares were up another 3 per cent in early trading as the market responded positively to the latest half-year results, in which total adjusted cash profit rose 15 per cent to €13m (£10.9m).
The group, which operates a total of 220 forecourt retail outlets across Ireland, the UK and the US, reported a particularly strong performance across its Irish sites, which helped push group like-for-like gross profit up 5.5 per cent at constant currency. Food sales also did well, up 13.4 per cent on an underlying basis, which helped drive total revenue up more than 7 per cent.
If there's one flaw, it can be found in the UK numbers. Revenue there fell flat during the opening six months of the year, largely as a result of lower fuel prices and weaker sterling. Like-for-like fuel gross profit fell by 1.1 per cent while store sales declined by 4.7 per cent on the same basis. The performance was also blamed on consumer caution ahead of the EU referendum - although that particular lament is starting to wear thin.
Prior to these results, analysts at Shore Capital expected pre-tax profit of €20.4m for the year ending December 2016, giving EPS of 20.5¢, compared with €17.7m and 18.7¢ in 2015.
| APPLEGREEN (APGN) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 393p | MARKET VALUE: | £315m | |
| TOUCH: | 385-400p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 395p | LOW: 330p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 128¢ | NET DEBT: | 23% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (€m) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 518 | 3.0 | 4.4 | nil |
| 2016 | 556 | 7.5 | 8.1 | nil |
| % change | +7 | +149 | +84 | - |
£1=€1.19 | ||||
