Opportunities ahead for NWF despite revenue and profit dip
Cheshire-headquartered farm supplies and fuels business NWF says it’s annual results for the year to the end of March 2024 were solid and gives the group room to make more acquisitions.
Despite recording a drop in turnover and profits, the company insisted in a filing to the stock market this morning that the results were not only in line with advice given in a trading update in June, but that volumes in fuel sales remained ahead of the prior year, in part benefiting from increased commercial customer orders as the mild weather across the winter resulted in low demand for domestic heating oil.
The highlights of the annual results reported to the stock market this morning include a dip in in revenues from last year’s record to £950.6 million (2023: £1,053.9 million) with revenue growth from higher commodity prices in Fuels and Feeds and an increase in activity levels in the Food division.
Pre-tax profit was £12.2 million, a decrease of 35.4% (2023: £18.9 million).
Chris Belsham
New chief executive Chris Belsham, previously Group Finance Director, said: “We have delivered a solid set of results in line with market expectations, having managed through more challenging conditions than the prior year following the normalisation of the Fuels and Feeds markets, alongside a strong contribution from the Food business.
“We have also delivered on our growth strategy, with one Fuels acquisition, significant investment in organic and improvement initiatives, and a substantial expansion of the Food business. We see further development opportunities in the current year supported by our strong financial position.
“Performance to date in the current financial year has been consistent with the Board’s expectations, and we remain confident about the Group’s future prospects.”
In Fuels, NWF is the third largest distributor in the UK and says it has “a clear growth strategy to consolidate a fragmented fuels distribution market” whilst delivering organic volume growth. The company says it has a strong pipeline, and that acquisitions “are being actively pursued and the opportunity for growth remains significant”.
After 11 years as a board member of the Group, Philip Acton will be standing down as chair at the Annual General Meeting on 26 September 2024 to be replaced by Amanda Burton, who recently joined the board in July 2024.
Belsham and Katie Shortland, Chief Financial Officer, are to receive awards of shares as part of their incentive package.
Belsham will get a maximum of 234,287 ordinary shares of 25 pence each of the company shares at a price of 167.5 pence per Share, subject to hitting headline basic earnings per share for the three financial years ending 31 May 2027 and as many as 234,287 shares if earnings per share are RPI plus 8% per annum for the three financial years ending 31 May 2027.
Katie Shortland will receive an award of a conditional right over a maximum of 126,060 Shares at a price of 167.5 pence per Share, being the mid-market price at the close of business on 29 July 2024.
