NWF Group PLC Trading Update and Notice of Results (9320I)
17 Diciembre 2020 - 1:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMNWF
RNS Number : 9320I
NWF Group PLC
17 December 2020
For release 7.00am Thursday 17 December 2020
NWF Group plc
NWF Group plc: Trading Update and Notice of Results
Ahead of the publication of its interim results on 2 February
2021, NWF Group plc ('NWF' or the Group), the specialist
distributor of fuel, food and feed across the UK, today provides a
trading update for the half year ended 30 November 2020.
Trading update
Following continued solid trading through the second quarter,
the Board expects to report overall results for the half year in
line with its expectations. As anticipated, overall performance
will be slightly behind the prior year albeit with a further
reduction in net debt as at 30 November 2020 and with leverage
below 0.9x EBITDA. The Board remains confident of delivering its
full year expectations.
The Group is satisfied that the cyber incident notified on 2
November 2020 has been contained and is pleased to report that this
has not materially impacted the trading or commercial performance
of the business. Additional security measures have also been
integrated into the Group's IT systems to provide further
resilience moving forward.
Our three divisions remain open and fully operational, given
that they all provide essential services. We continue to monitor
the latest developments on Brexit, have contingency plans in place
where necessary, and critically, operate in large stable domestic
markets with robust levels of demand.
Fuels - positive trading and development strategy restarted:
-- Positive trading across the network with the benefit of prior
period acquisitions performing as planned. There have not been any
significant changes in demand in the first half year as a
consequence of Covid-19 and oil prices have generally moved upwards
during the period.
-- Having taken a prudent pause in investment during the initial
phase of the pandemic, the resilient performance of the businesses,
together with the strong balance sheet position, enables us to
re-commence our strategy to acquire fuel businesses to expand our
geographical footprint and grow market share.
Food - new warehouse fully utilised, significant demand
volatility creates short-term inefficiencies:
-- The Food business has traded behind the prior year, partly as
a result of the initial costs of bringing the new Crewe warehouse
on stream and building customer stock levels as planned, but also
due to significant demand volatility and consequential short-term
inefficiency.
-- There have been sharp peaks in demand exceeding operational
capacity as retailer and consumer purchasing behaviour adjusted to
lockdowns. In addition, the business mix has been adverse due to
demand from higher revenue cash and carry and food service business
being reduced given the restrictions around the hospitality
sector.
Feeds - trading in line:
-- Demand continued to be solid across the first half; although
feed volumes were a little lower than prior year, trading was both
in line with management expectations and the same period last year.
Managing significant volatility in feed commodity costs which have
recently hit record highs is a challenge for the agricultural
markets.
Richard Whiting, Chief Executive of NWF Group, said:
"We had a solid first half with trading in line with our
expectations. This performance is a further demonstration of the
resilience of the Group, which given the challenges of keeping our
people safe, managing demand volatility and responding to a cyber
incident have demonstrated our teams' strong capabilities. We
remain confident in our growth potential and continue to target
development opportunities."
Notice of results
NWF will announce its half year results for the six months ended
30 November 2020 on Tuesday 2 February 2021.
There will be a webcast or conference call option for analysts
on the day at 9.30am. Please contact MHP via
alisa.prestige@mhpc.com or 020 3128 8734 if you would like to
receive details.
Information for investors, including analyst consensus
forecasts, can be found on the Group's website at www.nwf.co.uk
Richard Whiting, Chief Reg Hoare / James Bavister
Executive / Mike Bell / Ed Allsopp
Chris Belsham, Group Finance
Director Alisa Prestige
NWF Group plc MHP Communications Peel Hunt LLP
(Nominated Advisor)
Tel: 01829 260 260 Tel: 020 3128 8591 Tel: 020 7418 8900
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END
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