Soft drinks maker Nichols (NICL) believes that its longstanding Vimto brand and drinks on the go will be the key areas for growth. To capitalise on the latter, post-period end it bought Adrian Mecklenburgh Limited (AML), the out of home soft drinks dispense distributor covering the Kent region. During the reported period, this division experienced sales growth of 15.2 per cent, driven by dispensed soft drinks and frozen beverage products. This contributed to a 12.7 per cent increase in UK sales to £115m, also driven by strong sales of Vimto which outperformed the wider soft drinks market.
Meanwhile, the still beverages division struggled due to poor trading in the Middle East, with still sales up just 0.8 per cent. Sales in the Middle East fell by more than a quarter due to the timing of shipments to Aujan and the challenges with supply to the Yemen, where political unrest in the region made trading difficult and at times impossible.
Analysts at N+1 Singer expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £32.6m during 2019 giving EPS of 72p, compared to £31.8m and 69.2p in 2018.
| NICHOLS (NICL) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 1,555p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 574m | |
| TOUCH: | 1,555-1,595p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,690p | LOW: 1,230p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.5% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 304p* | NET CASH: | £38.9m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014 | 109 | 17.9 | 38.4 | 22.4 |
| 2015 | 109 | 28.0 | 60.3 | 25.6 |
| 2016 | 117 | 31.5 | 69.1 | 29.3 |
| 2017 | 133 | 28.7 | 62.9 | 33.5 |
| 2018 | 142 | 31.8 | 69.2 | 38.1 |
| % change | +7 | +11 | +10 | +14 |
| Ex-div: | 21 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 03 May | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £42.2m or 114p per share | ||||
