McColl's Retail Group plc Q4 and Full Year Trading Update (2179Y)
December 04 2017 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
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RNS Number : 2179Y
McColl's Retail Group plc
04 December 2017
Q4 and Full Year Trading Update
McColl's Retail Group plc, the convenience retailer, ("McColl's"
or "the Group") today announces its trading update for the 13 and
52 week periods ended 26 November 2017.
CONTINUED STRONG REVENUE GROWTH
STRATEGICALLY WELL POSITIONED FOR THE FUTURE
Financial and operational highlights:
-- Total revenue up 28.9% in Q4 and 19.1% for the full year following successful integration of 298 acquired
convenience stores (completed in mid-July)
-- Full-year like-for-like (LFL) sales1 up 0.1%, with significant mix improvements as a result of growth in key
grocery categories alongside declining traditional categories, split as follows:
-- LFL sales in convenience stores up 0.1%
-- LFL sales in newsagents down 0.2%
-- Total LFL sales down 1.1% in Q4 impacted by declining traditional categories and unfavourable weather
-- LFL sales in recently acquired and converted stores2 up 1.3% in Q4 and 2.4% for the full year
-- 25 convenience store refreshes successfully completed in H2, bringing the total to 27, with a further 100 planned
in FY18
-- McColl's is one of Subway's fastest growing UK franchisees with 18 franchises now in operation
-- The Group remains on track to achieve results for the full year in line with management's expectations
Jonathan Miller, Chief Executive, said:
"I am delighted to report another strong quarter of revenue
growth. For the first time the business has achieved annual
revenues of more than GBP1bn, boosted by our transformational
acquisition of 298 high quality convenience stores last year,
demonstrating that this is now a business of real scale.
"McColl's is well positioned to continue to take advantage of
the growing convenience market, with clear opportunities to enhance
organic growth across our estate, as well as continued expansion
through our acquisition programme.
"As we look ahead to next year, we will focus on delivering an
enhanced customer offer in over 1,300 stores through the
groundbreaking wholesale partnership we signed with Morrisons,
which will see us launch hundreds of Safeway branded products,
exclusively in McColl's from January 2018.
"We will also extend our successful convenience store refresh
programme to 100 more stores next year. Customer feedback remains
very positive and the early performance of refreshed stores has
delivered significant increases in footfall and sales, and
increased uptake of higher margin convenience categories, including
fresh and chilled food."
Update on wholesale supply arrangements
We were both sad and disappointed to learn that Palmer and
Harvey (P&H) was placed into administration on 28 November
2017. P&H has been a long-time partner of the McColl's business
and we have been grateful through the years for their continuing
support.
Our priority is to minimise any potential impact on customers.
We are in ongoing discussions with our supply chain partners, and
manufacturers, with a contingency plan already in place to ensure
continuity of supply to the around 700 newsagents and smaller
convenience stores, previously supplied by P&H, within our
estate of 1,611 stores.
[1] 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, mobile phone
top up and travel tickets.
[2] LFL sales in stores acquired or converted between 2015-2016
which have traded for over 12 months.
Enquiries
Please visit www.mccolls.co.uk or for further information,
please contact:
McColl's Retail Group plc Media enquiries:
Jonathan Miller, Chief Executive Headland
Simon Fuller, Chief Financial Officer Lucy Legh, Rob Walker,
Naomi Kissman, Head of Investor Relations Ewa Lewszyk
+44 (0)1277 372916 +44 (0)20 3805 4822
The Group's Preliminary Results for the 52 week period ended 26
November 2017 will be released on 19 February 2018.
Notes to editors
McColl's is a leading neighbourhood retailer, with an estate of
1,611 managed convenience stores and newsagents. We operate 1,279
McColl's branded convenience stores as well as 332 newsagents
branded Martin's across the UK, except in Scotland where we operate
under our heritage brand, RS McColl. Our 22,000 dedicated
colleagues serve 5.5 million customers every week, and we are the
largest operator of Post Offices in the UK, with 588 in-store
counters/branches.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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