City round-up: HSS Hire Group; PZ Cussons; Revolution Beauty
Manchester-based tool and equipment hire group, HSS, said it anticipates full year Adjusted EBITA to be in line with market expectations, in a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting later today.
It said it has continued to make strategic progress with both the HSS ProService and HSS Operations business plans and delivered solid financial performance for the first five months of FY24 with revenue growth of four per cent compared with the same prior year period, despite the impact of the mild winter on seasonal product performance.
While remaining mindful of the macro-environment including the impact of the upcoming election and after assuming normal levels of seasonal product performance, it said it anticipates full year Adjusted EBITA to be in line with market expectations.
Earlier this month the group revealed a blow to its prospects when, following a re-tender process, Amey Plc informed HSS it will move to rival Speedy Hire for the provision of its equipment rental managed service contract.
The supplier agreement will end in early December 2024, subject to any transitional services that HSS may agree with Amey.
The agreement, which began in December 2015, accounted for approximately seven per cent of group revenue and 10% of group adjusted EBITA in 2023.
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PZ Cussons
Soap manufacturing PZ Cussons is still looking to offload some of its African businesses it confirmed in a short trading statement this morning.
The Manchester-headquartered group also said it expects to report full year revenue for 2024 of approximately £528 million. It said that despite a 23% adverse movement in the value of the Nigerian Naira since a trading update in April the Group expects to report adjusted operating profit in the region of £55-60 million, which is in line with previous guidance.
Gross debt as at 31 May 2024 is also expected to be comfortably within the guided range of £160-180 million. Surplus cash in Nigeria is minimal as a result of prioritising the continued repatriation of cash.
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Revolution Beauty Group
Revolution Beauty, the listed beauty products ecommerce business backed by Boohoo has a “settled board with the right executive leadership” according to its chairman Alistair McGeorge, the former Matalan chief executive.
As well as detailing settlements with former directors following last year’s takeover battles, the business informed the markets this morning that it had turned around its fortunes.
Adam Minto, the former CEO and founder of the Group, entered into a settlement agreement relating to the events that led to the delay of the audit of Revolution Beauty’s FY22 results and the suspension of trading of the Group’s shares during his time as CEO, with no admission or acceptance of liability by either party and will pay Revolution Beauty a settlement sum of £2.9m.
On sales of £191.3m the business made a profit before tax of £11.4m (FY23: loss of £33.9m).
McGeorge said: “Looking ahead, we are optimistic about the future of Revolution Beauty. We see tremendous opportunities for growth and expansion, both domestically and internationally, and we remain committed to delivering innovative products and exceptional customer products.”
