City round-up: Nichols; LBG Media; Revolution Bars; Norcros; YourGene Health
Nichols, the Newton-le-Willows-based maker of the iconic Vimto soft drink brand, improved sales and profits in the half year to June 30, 2023, it revealed today.
Turnover was up 6.6% at £85.5m, while the pre-tax profit of £11.2m was a 10.35% improvement on the previous year.
It had cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period of £56.1m, a 14.2% improvement, and it intends to pay a 12.6p per share interim dividend, a 1.6% increase.
The group said it achieved strong top line growth across the business with a focus on accelerating the packaged division in line with the strategic plan, continued accelerated momentum in international packaged geographies, significant progress on implementation of the Out of Home (OoH) strategic review, and the impacts of inflation actively managed.
The group said it has confidence in 2023 expectations – adjusted pre-tax profits of £25.2m – which remain unchanged.
CEO, Andrew Milne, said: “We are pleased with our encouraging first half performance, which again reflects the strength of the Vimto brand. Particularly pleasing is the growth in our core packaged business, and the continued accelerated momentum across our international markets with very strong performances in Africa, the Middle East and the rest of the world.
“The group achieved significant strategic progress during the period, particularly in relation to our Out of Home business where we are making positive changes to simplify operations and focus on the areas of greatest opportunity and profitability. We are on track to deliver the material benefits of these changes from FY 2024. Meanwhile, we remain focused on accelerating growth in packaged, both in the UK and internationally, in line with our strategic plan.”
He added: “We are mindful that consumer spend is still under pressure from continuing high levels of inflation. However, the group’s track record, strong brands and diversified business model, alongside the resilience of the wider soft drinks market, support the board’s confidence in the group’s long term growth prospects, and that the group’s adjusted PBT for FY 2023 will be in line with expectations.”
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Solly Solomou
Manchester-based LadBible owner, LBG Media, is expecting revenues and profits to improve in the six months to June 30, 2023, it announced this morning, together with the departure of its chief operating officer, Arian Kalantari.
The multi-brand, multi-channel digital youth publisher expects to report first half revenue of £27.2m (HY22: £24.8m) representing growth of approximately 10% and reflective of the seasonality it anticipates between H1 and H2.
Direct revenues increased by approximately nine per cent to £11.5m (HY22: £10.6m) driven by the group’s growing reputation with global brands and successful campaigns. Visibility of booking levels for the second half of the year is also improved compared with this time last year.
Indirect revenue increased by approximately 13% to £15.3m (HY22: £13.6m). Year on year content view growth improved by more than 60%, enabling the group to greater capitalise on the market shift to short-form content that occurred in the second half of last year.
Half year 2023 adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately £3m, (HY22: £1.6m) an increase of more than 80% on last year, while cash and cash equivalents as at June 30, 2023 of £32.7m compared with £29.3m at December 31, 2022.
In line with the group’s inorganic growth strategy, during the period LBG Media completed the bolt-on asset acquisition of Lessons Learned in Life (LLIL), an under-monetised asset that is on track to achieve payback within its first year.
Looking ahead, the group said that normal seasonality in advertising spend means that revenue, and, with the relatively even split of costs, significantly more so profitability, are weighted towards the second half of the year. The board believes that the group’s highly differentiated offering and strategic programme will continue to fuel its growth and combined with the momentum it takes into the second half, the board can confirm the outlook for the full year remains in line with market expectations of £69.3m in revenues and an adjusted EBITDA of £19.4m.
The group intends to announce its 2023 half year results on September 20.
CEO, Solly Solomou, said: “We have delivered a strong first-half performance in line with our expectations, notwithstanding the tough macroeconomic backdrop. The significant increase in content views demonstrates our effective ongoing engagement with the hard to reach 18-34 year-old demographic – this is a highly attractive proposition for advertisers and will continue to fuel our growth.
“LBG Media has a well defined set of strategic growth pillars, a strong balance sheet with which to execute on and the ability to capitalise on the growth drivers – I’m excited by the opportunities that lie ahead.”
The group also announced today that COO Arian Kalantari has resigned with immediate effect. He has been on a sabbatical since the start of the year to spend more time with his family and has made the decision not to return to the vompany. His operational responsibilities had been distributed among colleagues and will now be permanently retained by those members of the group’s established and strong leadership team.
Solly Solomou said: “On behalf of the board and everyone at the company, I would like to thank Arian for his support over the years, both in the terms of the vital contribution to the founding of the business and the years of success that have been achieved since. It has been a great pleasure to work side by side with my good friend and I wish him all the best and look forward to his continued support as a shareholder.”
Arian Kalantari said: “It has been an incredible journey to see this business grow and thrive over the last 11 years since Solly and I founded it. LBG Media is very well positioned to continue to succeed in the years to come and I will remain a passionate supporter.”
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Revolution Bars
Manchester-based bars business, Revolution Bars Group, said it expects its annual results to July 2, 2023, to be in ine with market expectations.
In a trading update today the operator of 68 premium bars and 21 pubs, said Peach Pubs, which was acquired last October, have continued to trade strongly and in line with business expectations at acquisition, with full year like-for-like (LFL) sales 14% ahead of pre-COVID LFLs. The Peach team is now largely integrated into the wider group and Revolution says it sees significant opportunities to invest in and expand this exciting brand when appropriate to do so.
Overall Group LFLs were down 8.7% versus pre-COVID, as trading in its late night bars has continued to be difficult with younger guests struggling financially in the current challenging economic environment. Notwithstanding these trading conditions, Revolution said it is very pleased to see its Christmas party pre-booked revenue 24.7% up compared with the same time last year.
The group has managed the inflationary cost environment proactively, and is pleased to see wholesale electricity prices reduce from their peak last year. In addition, it has tightly controlled spend across the group in the second half of FY23.
The major refurbishment programme was paused in January, having completed five significant refurbs in the preceding six months, when the depth of the challenges faced by the UK economy more generally, and its Revolution guests in particular, became clear.
Assuming trading continues in line with expectations, the programme will re-start as soon as possible.
Full year EBITDA (IAS 17) for 2023 is expected to be in line with market expectations of £6.6m. The group had net bank debt of £20.8m as at July 25, 2023.
Revolution expects the trading conditions to remain challenging for FY24 and looks forward to the all-important peak trading period at Christmas which it hopes will be the first uninterrupted peak period since 2019.
The group intends to publish its preliminary results for the financial year ended July 2, 2023 on October 17.
CEO, Rob Pitcher, said: “Our acquisition of Peach Pubs was well timed given the impact of the economic challenges to the younger guests in our Revolution bars alongside the working from home trend being exacerbated by continued uncertainty on the rail network.
“The pubs estate is in great shape and I have enjoyed getting to know the teams at the pubs, as well as seeing our guests enjoy themselves in our beautiful gardens. There is a huge opportunity to strengthen and grow this brand and I look forward to us embracing that.
“Our vision and strategy to delight our guests across all our brands is delivering, and when our guests have the opportunity to go out and enjoy themselves we see them come to us, where our teams across the group love making them feel welcome.
“FY23 has been very challenging, however, we have controlled costs and limited capex in the second half to reduce net debt. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our teams, in all roles, for their enthusiasm, commitment and resilience, as everything we achieve is down to their hard work.
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Norcros
Wilmslow-based bathroom and kitchen supplies group, Norcros, said its overall trading performance for the first quarter, to July 2, 2023, was resilient, with the board’s expectations for the full year remaining unchanged.
Ahead of its annual general meeting this morning, the group revealed that group revenue for the 13 week period was 2.1% higher on a constant currency basis compared with the same period last year. On a like for like constant currency basis, revenue was 4.2% lower compared ith the strong prior year comparator.
In the UK, like for like revenue for the 13 week period was broadly in line with the previous year, despite the tougher demand environment. It continued to grow market share, with its trade sector performance being particularly strong.
In South Africa, the group was impacted by severe national electricity supply interruptions in April and May 2023. While there was an improvement in supply during June 2023, revenue for the 13 week period was 10.9% lower on a constant currency basis, compared with a strong prior year comparator. The group’s experienced management team in South Africa continues to actively manage the impact of electricity supply interruptions on the business’s performance.
As previously announced, David McKeith, acting board chair and chair of the audit and risk committee, will not be seeking re-election at the AGM after 10 years with the group. The group said it thanks him for his diligent service throughout his tenure. Steve Good was appointed as a director and board chair designate on July 1, and, subject to being elected at today’s AGM, will assume the role of board chair.
CEO, Thomas Willcocks, said: “We have delivered a resilient first quarter performance against a continuing backdrop of uncertain market conditions and the board’s expectations for the full year remain unchanged. We remain confident that our market-leading brands, diverse channels and end markets, and excellent customer service proposition will continue to deliver market share gains for the year ending March 31, 2024.”
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Lyn Rees
Manchester-based medical research group, Yourgene Health, has signed a five-year contract extension with Illumina Inc. The contract is a restated licence and supply agreement for Yourgene’s sequencing based NIPT IVD products, which will now run until September 2028.
The restated licence provides seamless continuity for existing customers and allows Yourgene to continue its product development roadmaps for NIPT (non-invasive pre-natal testing) and other future applications in the field of precision medicine, as the company looks to further penetrate key international markets such as Americas, UK, Europe and Australia.
Lyn Rees, chief executive, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Illumina following a successful five years of working together to date. This provides us with a good opportunity to further develop exciting market opportunities in NIPT across many key markets.”
Earlier this month it was announced that Anglo-French biotechnology group, Novacyt, had agreed a £16.7m deal to buy Yourgene Health.
