Preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2016
KEY POINTS
Financial
· FY results in line with revised management expectations and reflect the impacts outlined in H1
· Revenue of £287.9m (2015: £297.5m)
· EBITDA of £18.0m (2015: £33.7m)
· Adjusted* profit before tax and exceptional items of £11.5m (2015: £26.7m)
· Exceptional (non-recurring) items of £92.1m - includes goodwill impairment of £88.4m (2015: nil) as announced with the interim results, a non-cash charge which reflected challenging industry conditions and profit decline
· Reported loss before tax of £82.7m (2015: profit of £24.8m)
· Adjusted* EPS of 4.9p (2015: 10.9p) / Reported loss per share of 42.1p (2015: EPS of 9.9p)
· Net debt at 30 June 2016 of £9.8m (2015: £1.8m)
· Proposed final dividend of 1.5p per share (2015: 4.0p), subject to shareholder approval and in line with Board's commitment to full year dividend of 2.5p per share
Operations
· Strong focus on addressing the trading issues of H1 including:
- DX Exchange; H2 renewals in line with management expectations
- Driver resourcing issues; now stabilised but ongoing higher costs reflect continuing shortages of CPC-qualified drivers
· Continued progress with 'OneDX' programme - including network development and IT infrastructure investment
· Ongoing improvements to customer service including launch of 'DX Parcel Exchange' service, a market-leading 'pick up and drop off' solution
· Planning appeal submitted and public consultations commenced in respect of a revised proposal for potential new central hub in the West Midlands
· Post period, further targeted investment in IT and sales
· Outcome of HMPO contract tender expected by the end of November
· Daljit Basi appointed to the Board as Finance Director - see separate announcement
· Integration of Legal Post and First Post resumed after lifting of CMA's Initial Enforcement Order
* Adjusted profit before tax and adjusted EPS exclude amortisation of intangibles and exceptional items
Petar Cvetkovic, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"It has been a challenging year, with the specific trading pressures we reported in the second quarter of the year having a substantial impact on profitability. Our focus has been on responding to these pressures while also driving forward our 'OneDX' programme and further improvements to our already high levels of customer service.
We continue to take positive steps to address the Group's performance and to support this we are making further targeted investment in IT and sales. While there are still uncertainties ahead as we await the outcome of the HMPO tender process and our planning appeal, we have confidence that our business transformation plans will deliver long term benefits."