Interim Results
KEY POINTS
Financial
· Revenue of £142.7m (2015: £141.6m)
· EBITDA of £3.9m (2015: £5.6m) / Adjusted* PBT of £0.6m (2015: £2.4m)
· Reported LBT of £29.3m (2015: £87.1m) - after exceptional items of £28.8m, relating mainly to goodwill impairment (2015: £88.4m)
· Loss before tax and exceptional items of £0.5m (2015: £1.3m profit)
· Adjusted* EPS of 0.5p (2015: 1.1p) / Reported LPS after exceptional items of 14.4p (2015: 43.6p)
· Wide-ranging review of the Company's operations underway to improve financial performance and increase revenues
· Refinancing terms agreed which better match the needs of the business
Operations
· Change in overall revenue mix resulted in lower average margin
· Parcels & Freight revenue increased by 2.8% to £80.3m:
- Strong volume growth at DX 2-Man but flat growth in DX Courier and DX 1-Man
· Mail & Packets revenue declined by 3.6% on a like-for-like basis but is up 1.0% overall at £55.5m:
- Decrease in DX Exchange was in line with management expectations
- Growth in DX Secure was below targeted levels
- Addition of Legal Post and First Post, acquired in May 2016, added £2.6m of revenues
· Logistics revenue decreased by £1.7m to £6.9m but prior year included £4.3m of low margin discontinued contracts. Significant wins:
- Three year contract with Avon UK post period - worth in excess of £10m p.a.
- IKEA relationship is expanding
· 'OneDX' network optimisation and development programme experienced short term operational issues with a co-location, resulting in temporary higher costs:
- A further major site consolidation project was completed - at Norwich
- Both projects will drive customer service benefits and efficiencies
· Management is considering its options on a new hub with stakeholders
· Management team significantly strengthened, and business transformation specialist has been working with the Company since mid-January
· Current trading is in line with management expectations
· The Board is in discussions with John Menzies plc regarding the potential combination of DX and the distribution business of John Menzies plc - see separate announcement
- A further announcement will be made when appropriate
* Adjusted profit before tax and adjusted EPS exclude amortisation of acquired intangibles and exceptional items
Petar Cvetkovic, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Results have been impacted by the trading pressures reported in February and we have since initiated a wide-ranging review of the Company's operations to improve financial performance and drive revenues. We have also significantly strengthened our senior management team and have been working with a business transformation specialist since mid-January.
"We are pleased with progress with recent initiatives and are encouraged by recent new business wins, including our major contract with Avon UK. Our pipeline of new business is also currently standing at its strongest level in recent years.
"The Board remains highly focused on implementing measures to turnaround business performance and in addition is currently in discussions regarding the potential combination of DX and the Distribution division of John Menzies. We believe that the combination of the businesses has strong strategic logic for all stakeholders and represents an opportunity to deliver significant value to both companies' shareholders. We will provide a further update in due course."