Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 3127T

DCC PLC

17 July 2015

 



17 July 2015

DCC plc

Interim Management Statement

DCC Reiterates Guidance of Very Significant Growth

DCC plc, the international sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group, is issuing this Interim Management Statement in advance of the Company's AGM to be held in Dublin at 11.00 am today. 

First Quarter ended 30 June 2015

Overall Group operating profit for the first quarter ended 30 June 2015 was in line with budget, with strong growth across DCC Energy, DCC Healthcare and DCC Environmental being somewhat offset by a weaker performance from DCC Technology.   

DCC Energy traded ahead of budget and well ahead of the prior year, benefitting in particular from a strong performance from its LPG activities. A significant milestone was achieved during the first quarter when, as announced on 24 June 2015, DCC Energy completed the acquisition of the assets that comprise the Esso Express unmanned retail petrol station network and the Esso Motorway concessions in France. The acquisition, which completed to schedule, followed the design, build and implementation of an IT and operational infrastructure to enable the carve-out of the Esso assets from the Exxon global platform and, importantly, provides DCC Energy with a scalable platform for further growth, particularly in the unmanned retail sector. The business has traded in line with expectations in the short period since completion.

Trading in DCC Technology was behind budget and the prior year. As anticipated, the business in the UK continues to be impacted by the weak tablet market and by reduced sales of mobile computing and smartphone products of one large supplier. The UK business was also impacted by weaker demand and increased competition across a number of product sectors.  

Operating profit in DCC Healthcare grew strongly and in line with expectations, benefitting from a strong performance in DCC Vital.

DCC Environmental traded in line with budget and well ahead of last year.

Year to 31 March 2016

DCC's profits are significantly weighted towards the second half of its financial year. At what is still a very early stage in the financial year, the Group continues to anticipate that operating profit and adjusted earnings per share, on a continuing basis, will be very significantly ahead of the prior year.

This guidance for the year to 31 March 2016 is based on the important assumptions that the acquisition of Butagaz, announced on 19 May 2015, will complete in the final calendar quarter of 2015 and that there will be normal winter weather conditions.

DCC remains ambitious to continue the growth and development of its business. The recent successful equity placing further enhances DCC's strong equity base and together with a strong and liquid balance sheet leaves it well placed to continue the development of its business in existing and new geographies.

Date for Interim Results

DCC expects to announce its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2015 on Tuesday 10 November 2015.

For reference:                                                                                               

Tommy Breen, Chief Executive

Fergal O'Dwyer, Chief Financial Officer

Kevin Lucey, Head of Group Finance & Investor Relations

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.dcc.ie

Forward-looking statements

This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent DCC's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risk and uncertainty.  DCC believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however because they involve risk and uncertainty as to future circumstances, which are in many cases beyond DCC's control, actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

About DCC plc

DCC plc is an international sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group headquartered in Dublin with operations in Britain, Continental Europe and Ireland. DCC has four divisions - DCC Energy, DCC Technology, DCC Healthcare and DCC Environmental. In its last financial year ended 31 March 2015, DCC generated revenues of £10.6 billion and operating profits of £222 million and currently employs approximately 10,200 people in 14 countries. DCC's shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and are included in the FTSE All-Share Index and the FTSE 250 Index under Support Services.   

 

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