Business
Full Year Results
Full Year Results.
About this update from Wickes Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n\n\nWICKES GROUP PLC (WIX)\n\n\n\nWICKES GROUP PLC: Full Year Results25-March-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BSTDissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.\n\n\n \n\nWickes Group plc - Full Year Results 2021\n\nfor the 53 week period to 1 January 2022\n\nExcellent full year performance, accelerating investment for growth\n\n \n\nFinancial Highlights \n\nRevenue up 14.0% to £1.53bn (2020: £1.35bn) driven by \n\n Further market share gains in Core, supported by range development, enhanced service proposition and strong digital performance\n Strengthened Trade position with over 80,000 new TradePro customers, taking the base to over 630,000\n Resilient performance in DIFM despite Covid disruption, supported by virtual customer journey and new ranges \n \n Like-for-like sales* up 13.0% on 2020 and 18.6% on 2019\n Adjusted profit before tax increased to £85.0m** (2020 £49.5m)\n Reported profit before tax increased to £65.4m (2020 £28.9m) \n IFRS net debt of £618.7m; leverage reduced to 2.8x (see Appendix)\n Final dividend declared of 8.8p, a total of 10.9p for the full financial year representing 40% of adjusted profit after tax\n \n\nStrategic Highlights \n\nSignificant outperformance, growing at over twice the rate of the market\n Strength of our market position and returns give confidence to accelerate investment to drive growth; investing an incremental £15m per year\n Accelerating the store refit programme, now expected to be completed within five years, with 12-15 stores refitted p.a.\n New store opportunities identified with potential for up to 20 new stores over the next 5 years\n Setting out capital allocation policy supporting accelerated investment for growth, enhanced ordinary dividend of 40% of adjusted profit after tax and targeting IFRS net debt leverage consistently less than 2.75x - with excess capital available to be returned to shareholders over time\n Repositioned all of our ESG work under the banner of Responsible Business. Three pillars cover People, Environment, and Homes, supported by strong governance, safety and wellbeing, and responsible sourcing\n \n\nCurrent Trading and Outlook\n\nTrading in the first 11 weeks is in line with last year\n As we annualise strong 2021 comparatives, Core sales are down 6...