City briefs; McColl’s Retail Group and Synectics
McColl’s Retail Group says it has made “significant strategic progress” with its Morrisons Daily roll-out, despite the impact of COVID-19 and UK supply chain disruption.
The business has a wholesale supply deal with the Bradford-headquartered Morrisons supermarket chain and is turning hundreds of its sites to a store format branded “Morrisons Daily”.
McColl’s has today released a full year 2020 trading update, in which it says it had a total of 185 Morrisons Daily stores trading at year-end – ahead of schedule – with 154 conversions completed during FY21
It has an increased target of Morrisons Daily conversions from 350 to 450 stores by the end of FY22.
The company says its Uber Eats partnership is progressing well across 400 stores, with trials in its Morrisons Daily stores driving an even higher online basket spend.
McColl’s adds its total FY21 revenue declined by 11.2% to £1.11bn (FY20: £1.25bn), principally reflecting supply chain disruption in the second half and the conclusion of its store optimisation programme.
It has recorded two-year like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 9.1%, with sales retained at a higher level than pre-COVID. On a one-year basis, LFL sales declined by 3.3% (FY20: 12.0%).
Jonathan Miller, chief executive, said: “FY21 has undoubtedly been a tough year for the business, starting with the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and ending with the widely reported and ongoing supply chain challenges.
“Although we have been able to partly mitigate these external factors, they have still had a significant impact on underlying trading.
“Despite this, we have made excellent progress on the strategic initiatives which are firmly within our control, including the accelerated roll-out of Morrisons Daily conversions within our estate, which is ahead of our expectations.
“These Morrisons Daily stores are generating strong sales growth and enhanced return on investment.
“In less than a year’s time we expect over half our revenues to be delivered by this fascia, bringing branded, supermarket-quality convenience to our customers, with material scope to deploy further into our estate.”
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Security and surveillance systems business, Synectics, says its underlying results for the second half of its financial year ended 30 November 2021 are expected to show a modest profit.
Publishing a trading update for the financial year ended 30 November 2021, the Sheffield-based company adds it expects its underlying loss for the full year to be lower than that recorded in the first half.
Trading has continued broadly in line with the Board’s expectations as set out in the company’s interim results announcement of 13 July 2021.
The Group’s net cash balance as of 30 November 2021 was £4.4m (31 May 2021: £3.5m, 30 November 2020: £6.9m), with no bank debt and undrawn bank facilities of £3m.
Synectics’ audited results for the year ended 30 November 2021 are due to be released on or around 22 February 2022.
