Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 4082M

Wincanton PLC

16 July 2014

 



For immediate release

16 July 2014

Wincanton plc

('Wincanton' or the 'Group')

Interim Management Statement

Wincanton, a leading provider of supply chain solutions in the UK & Ireland, today issues the following Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2014 to the date of this announcement.

The Board is pleased to report that Wincanton continues to trade in line with expectations.

As anticipated, the performance of the UK and Ireland economies has remained consistent with that experienced in the second half of the prior year. The UK construction industry continues to perform well, however in other sectors in which the group operates, despite the economic conditions being more benign, we continue to see competitive pressure in our marketplace as our customers retain a tight focus on their costs.

Within Contract Logistics, the Group has been awarded a number of new business wins including a new multichannel contract for nationwide warehouse and distribution services by Loaf.com, the UK's fastest-growing homeware company. The Group also signed a four year contract in the construction sector with Marley Eternit to distribute cladding materials and a three year contract to provide transport services to Halo Foods. In addition, the Group has signed a three year extension of our long standing partnership with Britvic to operate their automated national distribution centre. Within Specialist Businesses all businesses continue to perform in line with expectations.

On 19 June 2014, the Group announced the refinancing of its main banking facilities for a further five years through to June 2019, supporting the Group's medium term funding requirements. The refinancing comprises a new £170 million facility providing the Group with committed facilities of £300m in total.

There has been no significant change to the general financial position of the Group from that disclosed in the results announcement for the year ended 31 March 2014.

Eric Born, Chief Executive commented:

"Wincanton has traded well in the first part of the year following on from the good performance delivered in the last two years. The new business wins and renewals in the year to date show our continued ability to add significant value to our customers' logistics and supply chain operations.

We were pleased to conclude the refinancing of the Group's main bank facilities which provides a strong platform to support growth over the next five years and further extends the maturity profile of the Group's debt.

We have now developed a solid platform and will continue to progress along our path to focus on renewals, new contract wins, operational excellence and free cash flow generation to reduce our overall debt position."

For further information please contact:

Wincanton plc                                                  Tel: [phone]

Eric Born, Chief Executive

Adrian Colman, Group Finance Director

Buchanan                                                            Tel: [phone]

Jeremy Garcia / Gabriella Clinkard

www.buchanan.uk.com 

 

END

 

 

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