Annual cash profits at petrol forecourt retailer Applegreen (APGN) were ahead of expectations as the group reported another year of solid trading. Three acquisitions – spread evenly across the UK, Ireland and a strategic partnership in the US – helped the group add a combined 99 sites during the year, taking the estate total to 342. They also helped propel pre-tax profits up by nearly a fifth, while net debt finished below expectations, reflecting better use of working capital and a £41m share placing last September.
Underlying growth remains strong across the business, with like-for-like food sales up 3.9 per cent and like-for-like gross profit up 7.4 per cent, both on a constant-currency basis. That compared with a 25 per cent profit increase inclusive of acquisitions. This year, the group has plans for around €113m (£100m) in capital expenditure, which will go towards developing service area sites and petrol filling stations across its portfolio (another 11 sites have already been added to the estate year-to-date).
Analysts at Shore Capital expect pre-tax profit of €29.2m for the year ending December 2018, giving EPS of 26.6¢, compared with €24.6m and 24.7¢ in 2017.
| APPLEGREEN (APGN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 498p | MARKET VALUE: | £456m | |
| TOUCH: | 491-504p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 546p | LOW: 388p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.2% | PE RATIO: | 25 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 198p | NET DEBT: | 6% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
| 2013 | 0.79 | 16 | 24.4 | nil |
| 2014 | 0.94 | 15 | 20.5 | nil |
| 2015 | 1.08 | 14 | 17.1 | nil |
| 2016 | 1.18 | 20 | 21.5 | 1.3 |
| 2017 | 1.43 | 22 | 22.5 | 1.4 |
| % change | +21 | +13 | +4 | +12 |
| Ex-div: | 14 Jun | |||
| Payment: | 5 Jul | |||
| £1=€1.13 | ||||
