Organic growth has remained strong at outsourcer Bunzl (BNZL), which clocked up like-for-like revenue growth of 4.3 per cent in 2017, its highest level since 2006. On top of this the group had a record year for committed acquisition spend, with £616m across 15 businesses. Chief executive Frank Van Zanten said future acquisition levels were difficult to predict, as many deals rely on a “trigger” such as a retirement to initiate sale talks. He did note, however, that the group has a lot of “firepower” to take advantage of deals when they come up.
This growth was not without cost. The operating margin was down to 6.9 per cent from 7.1 per cent following the impact of adverse foreign exchange movements in the UK and additional work in the US being won at a lower margin. The impact of the US was the greater in 2017, but it was the exchange rate movements that led analysts at JP Morgan Cazenove to lower their forecasts for 2018 and 2019. They now expect adjusted EPS of 125p in 2018, from 126.6p previously (118.5p in 2017).
| BUNZL (BNZL) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 2,036p | MARKET VALUE: | £6.84bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,035-2,038p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,472p | LOW: 1,930p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.3% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 431p* | NET DEBT: | 105% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 | 6.10 | 290 | 63.5 | 32.4 |
| 2014 | 6.16 | 300 | 64.5 | 35.5 |
| 2015 | 6.49 | 323 | 71.0 | 38.0 |
| 2016 | 7.43 | 363 | 80.7 | 42.0 |
| 2017 | 8.58 | 409 | 94.2 | 46.0 |
| % change | +15 | +13 | +17 | +10 |
| Ex-div: | 24 May | |||
| Payment: | 2 Jul | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of 2.35bn, or 700p a share | ||||
