Business
Trading Update, De-leveraging and Share Buy-Back
Trading Update, De-leveraging and Share Buy-Back.
About this update from Victoria Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n \nThis announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (\"MAR\"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.\n \nVictoria PLC\n('Victoria,' the 'Company,' or the 'Group')\n \nTrading Update\nInitial €25m Senior Secured Notes Repurchase underway\nAdvice of £25m share buy-back\n \nVictoria PLC, (LSE: VCP) the international designers, manufacturers and distributors of innovative flooring, is providing an update on trading for the year ending 30 March 2024, together with an update on a recently started repurchase programme of an initial €25 million of its 2026 Senior Secured Notes and its intention to invest up to £25 million repurchasing its ordinary shares of 5 pence each (\"Ordinary Shares\"), deploying some of the Group's non-operating cash flow from the sale of non-core and surplus assets.\n \nTrading\n \nAlthough the medium-term macro-economic outlook is generally improving as well as key leading indicators for flooring demand1, current and near-term trading conditions remain broadly consistent with previous updates to shareholders with wider market demand down circa 20%. Consumer demand continues to be soft in Europe (39% of Group revenue), subdued but stable conditions in the UK (31%) and Australia (8%), contrasting with recently improving demand in the US (22%), alongside pressure on earnings coming from labour inflation and additional current year expenditure from accelerating reorganisation and integration projects. As a consequence, the Board expects that revenue for the year ending 30 March 2024 (\"FY2024\"), whilst less than in FY2023, will be broadly in line with market expectations. Underlying EBITDA will also, as anticipated, be below that achieved in FY2023 and the Board now expects that to be approximately £160 million.\n \nMeasurable progress has been made with the Group's various reorganisation and integration projects resulting in substantial permanent overhead reductions and productivity gains.\n \nThese projects should materially improve future operational performance whilst maintaining production capacity and therefore the Board is confident of Victoria's short...