A reduction in new house building activity towards the end of 2019 meant Ibstock’s (IBST) adjusted pre-tax profits were flat on the prior year and came in behind market expectations. The brick manufacturer also warned that last year’s political uncertainty meant 2020 had also got off to a slower start, guiding to a “stable outcome for the year”.
The addition of the Eclipse soft mud brick factory and improved production levels from other key manufacturing plants helped boost clay volumes, with sales buoyed by mid-single-digit price increases. The group plans to this year start construction on a factory with a capacity of 80m bricks a year at an existing site, which is expected to be commissioned in 2022 and cost £45m to build.
Concrete revenues were also up 11 per cent, thanks to strong sales volume growth in roof tiles, which offset reduced demand for pre-stressed and infrastructure products.
Analysts at Peel Hunt plan to lower its 2020 forecasts of adjusted pre-tax profits of £101m and EPS of 19.9p by between 4 and 6 per cent.
| IBSTOCK (IBST) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 212.4p | MARKET VALUE: | £870bn | |
| TOUCH: | 211.6-212.2p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 324p | LOW: 204p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.6% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 113p* | NET DEBT: | 44%** † | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p)** |
| 2015 | 358 | 86.0 | 32.6 | 4.4 |
| 2016 | 435 | 111 | 22.3 | 7.7 |
| 2017 | 363 | 77.7 | 16.0 | 9.1 |
| 2018 | 391 | 92.5 | 18.8 | 9.5 |
| 2019 | 409 | 82.0 | 16.3 | 9.7 |
| % change | +5 | -11 | -13 | +2 |
| Ex-div: | 10 May | |||
| Payment: | 8 Jun | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £103m, or 25p a share **Excludes special dividend of 25p a share in 2018 and 5p a share in 2019. †Includes lease liabilities of £30.3m. | ||||
