Interim Management Statement

DCC PLC

07 February 2024

 

7 February 2024

Interim Management Statement

DCC plc, the leading international sales, marketing and support services group, is issuing this Interim Management Statement for the third quarter ended 31 December 2023.

Operating profit guidance for year reiterated; Development activity continues

Group adjusted operating profit for the third quarter ended 31 December 2023 was modestly ahead of the prior year, a good performance given the volatile macro environment.

DCC Energy delivered good operating profit growth, driven by the performance of Energy Solutions, despite mild weather conditions in most regions during the third quarter of the financial year. Although operating profit declined in both DCC Healthcare and DCC Technology, the rate of decline improved relative to the first half of the year. In DCC Healthcare, DCC Health & Beauty Solutions saw improved market conditions, albeit remaining subdued relative to historic growth rates. As in the first half of the year, DCC Technology experienced difficult trading conditions in the consumer technology sector.

Outlook

DCC continues to expect that the year ending 31 March 2024 will be another year of operating profit growth in line with expectations, and continued development activity.   

Development activity

DCC has had an active year from a development perspective and has now committed approximately £355 million to acquisitions since our prior year Final Results in May 2023. Since the Interim Results announcement in November 2023, DCC Energy has committed approximately £45 million to new acquisitions which will further strengthen the energy management services and renewables offering of the business, including:

·   The agreement to acquire the Energy Management division of eEnergy Group plc ("EML"). EML provides energy management services including energy procurement, market analysis, risk management and net zero pathway consulting to industrial, commercial, and public sector customers in the UK. EML's technology and services empowers customers to identify and eliminate energy waste and reduce their carbon emissions. The transaction is conditional upon eEnergy Group plc shareholder approval and is expected to complete by the end of the financial year.

·    Complementary bolt-on acquisitions in Austria, Ireland and a renewable fuels distributor in the UK. 

In November 2023, DCC announced the agreement to acquire Progas, a leading distributor of LPG in Germany, subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is progressing as anticipated and is expected to complete by the end of the financial year.

Date for Final Results

DCC expects to announce its results for the year ending 31 March 2024 on Tuesday 14 May 2024.

Contact information

Investor enquiries:
Kevin Lucey, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
Rossa White, Head of Group Investor Relations	Email: [e-mail]
Media enquiries:
Powerscourt (Eavan Gannon/Pete Lambie)	Tel: [phone]
	Email: [e-mail]

About DCC plc

DCC is a leading international sales, marketing and support services group. We provide solutions the world needs across three transformative sectors: energy, healthcare and technology; where we acquire, improve and grow diverse businesses. We bring our growth mindset to our businesses in 22 countries across four continents, empowering our 16,000 employees to create long term value - for our shareholders, customers, society and the planet.

Headquartered in Dublin, DCC plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100. In our financial year ended 31 March 2023, DCC generated revenues of £22.2 billion and adjusted operating profit of £655.7 million. DCC has an excellent record, delivering compound annual growth of 14% in adjusted operating profit and generating an average return on capital employed of approximately 19% over 29 years as a public company.

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Forward-looking statements

This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent DCC's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risk and uncertainty. DCC believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however because they involve risk and uncertainty as to future circumstances, which are in many cases beyond DCC's control, actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

 

END