Trading Update

RNS Number : 5472Y

McColl's Retail Group plc

02 December 2014

2 December 2014

McColl's Retail Group plc

Trading Update

McColl's Retail Group plc (the "Group"), a leading neighbourhood retailer operating in the UK convenience and newsagent sectors, is pleased to announce its trading update for the 14 and 53 week periods ended 30 November 2014.

SOLID FINAL QUARTER TRADING AND 2014 DEVELOMENT PLANS DELIVERED

§ Strong growth in total sales, up 5.0% in Q4 and 4.2% year to date. 1

§ Q4 like-for-like sales slightly down year on year (-1.0%) but ahead 0.7% for the year to date. 2

§ Convenience estate development delivered in line with plans set out at IPO.

§ Successful completion of Post Office conversion project.

James Lancaster, Chief Executive Officer commented:

"I am pleased with our overall progress during the year. In line with the strategy we set out at IPO, we have continued our expansion into convenience through store, product and service development. Customers are responding well to our improved convenience offer, but with disposable income under continued pressure, the consumer outlook remains challenging. Despite these tough conditions we expect the 2014 results to be broadly in line with expectations."

Financial Overview

Total Group sales grew by 5.0% year on year in the final quarter, driven by new store acquisitions. Like-for-like sales were slightly down (-1.0%), reflecting a slight weakening of trading conditions. For the full year, total Group sales grew by 4.2% and like-for-like sales were ahead by 0.7%. The Group expects results to be broadly in line with expectations for the full year, representing a significant improvement on prior year.

Strategic and Operational Overview

The Group continues to execute its strategy to enhance its offering in the convenience sector through store conversions and acquisitions, improving and extending its product range and widening the choice of services it provides.

In a strong final quarter for development, the Group accelerated the pace of acquisitions to 21 new Premium Convenience stores and converted 9 Newsagent stores to the Food and Wine format. Year to date the Group has acquired 54 new Premium Convenience stores, as well as a further 6 in existing trading locations, being 60 acquisitions in total. In addition 45 Food and Wine conversions have been completed. McColl's now has a total of 799 Convenience stores representing 61% of the Group's total store base of 1,315 and is on track to achieve its target of 1,000 Convenience stores by the end of 2016.

The modernisation of the Group's Post Office network has continued and the Group has now completed the 191 locals conversion project. The new format has been received positively by customers.

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1	Adjusted to remove the impact of the 53^rd week in the period to 30 November 2014.
2	Like-for-like sales reflect sales from stores that have traded throughout the current and prior financial periods, and sales include VAT but exclude sales of fuel, lottery and mobile phone top-up, adjusted to remove the impact of the 53rd week in the period to 30 November 2014.