Trading Update

RNS Number : 2260X

SIG PLC

09 January 2014

 



SIG plc

("SIG" or "the Group")

Trading Update

SIG plc, a leading distributor of specialist building products in Europe, with strong positions in its core markets of insulation & energy management, interior fit out and roofing products, today issues a Trading Update for the twelve months ended 31 December 2013.

Total revenues in 2013 were c.£2,720m, up c.4% in Sterling, having benefited from favourable exchange rates.  Consequently the Board is confident that 2013 underlying* profit before tax will be no less than market consensus of £85.8m (source: Bloomberg).

Trading improved as the year progressed, with Group like-for-like** (LFL) sales up by c.2.5% in H2 compared to a decline of 3.5% in the weather affected first half.    

For the full year Group LFL sales decreased marginally, by c.0.5%, with Mainland Europe down c.1.5% and the UK and Ireland up by c.1%.  Excluding SIG Energy Management, LFL sales in the UK increased by c.4%. 

SIG's net debt is expected to be c.£120m as at 31 December 2013.  This includes c.£17m of expenditure on acquisitions during the year.

Cost savings

At its Half Year results presentation in August the Group announced that it had identified £3.9m of annual savings with an associated exceptional charge of £5.6m, and that further measures were expected in the second half of the year.

SIG subsequently identified c.£5m of additional efficiencies in H2, thereby increasing its total savings target to c.£9m, of which c.40% was realised in 2013.  The total exceptional charge, which also includes c.£3m of costs associated with the closure of Builders Express, is now expected to be c.£19m in 2013.

Outlook

SIG expects construction activity in the UK residential market to remain buoyant, with the non-residential sector continuing to be subdued.  In Mainland Europe construction markets are anticipated to remain variable.

The trading outlook, operational efficiency savings and an expected modest net benefit from its strategic initiatives give the Group confidence in achieving good progress in 2014.

Looking further ahead, and as outlined at SIG's Capital Markets Day in November 2013, the Group expects meaningful payback from its strategic initiatives from 2015 onward, with a cumulative net annual benefit target of c.£30m by 2016.

Full year results

SIG will announce its Full Year results for the year ended 31 December 2013 on 13 March 2014.

Enquiries

Stuart Mitchell, Chief Executive Doug Robertson, Finance Director Simon Bielecki, Head of Investor Relations	SIG plc	0114 285 6300 07515 794359
Richard Mountain / Nick Hasell	FTI Consulting	020 7269 7291

* Underlying is before the amortisation of acquired intangibles, restructuring costs, other one-off items, profit and loss on the sale of businesses, trading profits and losses associated with disposed businesses, fair value gains and losses on derivative financial instruments and the defined benefit pension scheme curtailment gain.

** Like-for-like is defined as sales per day on a constant currency basis excluding acquisitions and disposals.

Cautionary Statement

This Trading Update is prepared for and addressed only to the Company's shareholders as a whole and to no other person.  The Company, its directors, employees, agents or advisors do not accept or assume responsibility to any other person to whom this Trading Update is shown or into whose hands it may come and any such responsibility or liability is expressly disclaimed.

Certain information included in this Trading Update is forward looking and involves risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward looking statements.  It is believed that the expectations set out in these forward looking statements are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables which could cause future outcomes to differ from those foreseen in forward looking statements, including but not limited to, changes in risks associated with the level of market demand, product availability and pricing, competitor risk, credit risk, credit insurance, restructuring of SIG and exchange rates.  More information about the risks and uncertainties that may affect the Group's performance is contained in the Annual Report to Shareholders for the year ended 31 December 2012.  All statements in this release are based upon information known to the Company at the date of this Trading Update.  The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

END

 

 

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