UK Mail : Final Results Trading Statement May 2015

20 May 2015

FINAL RESULTS

For the year ended 31 March 2015

Significant period of investment and transition

Highlights

• Group revenues* up 0.8% to £485.1m (2014: £481.4m)
• Group profit before tax* (before exceptional items) down 4.2% to £21.0m (2014: £21.9m), in line with previous guidance
• Profit for the year from continuing operations of £15.9m (2014: £16.8m)
• Statutory profit for the year £5.1m (2014: £17.5m); net debt at year end of £5.2m (2014: net cash of £27.0m)
• Final dividend increased 2.1% to 14.5p per share (2014: 14.2p), giving a total dividend increase for the year of 2.3% to 21.8p (2014: 21.3p)
• Significant new Parcels volumes taken on in Q4 as a result of City Link collapse, leading to increased operational costs in short term due to capacity constraints
• New Ryton Hub now operational and automation roll out commenced; expected to reach optimal efficiency by the second half of current financial year
• Good progress with the further development of our product and service offerings, including imail and ipostparcels
• Underperforming Pallets business closed during period

* Excluding UK Pallets which is treated as a discontinued operation

Guy Buswell, Chief Executive Officer of UK Mail, said:-

"After a strong period of growth, with the volume of parcels handled within our business doubling over the past five years, UK Mail is in the midst of a period of major investment and transition at a time when our markets are undergoing significant change. All this has created some inevitable challenges but also significant longer-term opportunities.

"Our investment in a newly constructed, fully automated hub at Ryton near Coventry is the largest strategic development in UK Mail's history, bringing extra capacity and reducing operating costs across our business and setting us up very well for our next stage of profitable growth.

"We see significant opportunities in both the parcels and mail markets, in part from the changing competitive landscape and our strong value-added positioning within it, and in part from the new initiatives we continue to pursue such as imail, imailprint, and the opportunity to expand significantly in the packets market.

"The first half of the new financial year will be challenging as we reposition our parcels business and manage the full transition to the new hub. This, together with the implementation and roll-out of the new automation, will result in performance for the year being more weighted to the second half than usual.

"The medium and long term outlook for the Group remain very positive."

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