Wincanton “delivered another good performance during the first half of the year

Wincanton plc, a supply chain partner for UK business, today announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2022, revealing sustained growth in a challenging external environment.

Operational highlights
●	Revenue growth delivered across all four sectors against the backdrop of the challenging economic environment
●	Good new business momentum, contract renewals and extensions including IKEA Dartford, Husqvarna and La Doria
●	Healthy pipeline of new business opportunities; particular strength in public and infrastructure markets
●	Continued progress against strategy with further investment in technology, robotics and automation
●	Diverse customer portfolio mitigating the impact of volume headwinds in two-person home delivery and transport networks for retail and construction

Financial highlights
●	Good first half performance with revenue of £753.6m up by 9.2% (6.9% excluding Cygnia Logistics acquisition impact)
●	Underlying EBITDA of £57.4m, a year-on-year increase of 13.0% (H1 21/22: £50.8m)
●	Underlying profit before tax of £28.0m up 2.6% (H1 21/22: £27.3m); profit growth delivered whilst increasing investment and against a challenging macro-economic environment
●	Successfully managing inflationary pressures, with clear mechanisms to pass through costs in open book contracts and proactive actions taken to manage closed book contracts
●	Free cash flow generation of £17.7m with robust cash management resulting in an improved H1 net debt of position of £2.2m (H1 21/22 £16.4m)
●	Interim dividend of 4.4p (H1 21/22: 4.0p)

 

The company states: “We are mindful of the expected continuation of macro-economic uncertainty, and we will continue to work closely with our customers to manage inflationary pressures and labour market challenges across our markets. Our open book contracts and the contractual positions in our closed book contracts protect our operating cash flows and ability to deliver sustained growth. The Board remains confident in the Group’s strategy and expects to deliver revenue and profit in line with market expectations for FY23, underlining our excellent customer relationships and resilience to challenging external conditions.”

James Wroath, Chief Executive Officer of Wincanton commented: “Wincanton has delivered another good performance during the first half of the year in a challenging macro-economic environment. I would particularly like to thank our people, who continue to provide exceptional service to our customers delivering supply chain value every single day.

 We continued to win new business and made further progress against our growth strategy. Our exceptional customer service and track record for delivery are the foundations of our business. We are reinforcing this with sustained investment into automation and robotic solutions to meet the growing demand for these technologies, and they are delivering tangible results for our customers. I am very satisfied with the progress we have made in the period and, while mindful of the challenging macro-economic pressures, I remain confident in our strategy.”