Q3 Trading Update

RNS Number : 6149Z

McColl's Retail Group plc

04 September 2018

 

McColl's Retail Group plc, one of the UK's leading convenience retailers, today announces its third quarter trading update for the 13 week period ended 26 August 2018.

TRANSITION OF 1,300 STORES TO NEW SUPPLY PARTNER COMPLETED

Financial and operational highlights:

·      Total revenue up 0.6% for the quarter and up 12.0% year to date. The integration of the 298 stores acquired in 2017 annualised during the quarter

·      Q3 like-for-like (LFL) sales¹ down 0.9%, supported by a period of hot weather, but still impacted by supply chain disruption following the failure of Palmer & Harvey (P&H)

·      Transition to Morrisons supply in 1,300 stores² completed in mid-August, ahead of original schedule

·      Investment in estate continues with 26 store refreshes completed in the quarter, bringing total since inception to 80, delivering average sales uplifts above 5%

·      Store acquisition programme progresses with seven new convenience stores opened in the quarter

·      Further sale and leaseback transactions completed, generating £10m of cash proceeds, in part to support our programme of estate investment

Jonathan Miller, Chief Executive, said:

"The accelerated rollout of 1,300 stores to Morrisons supply is now complete, including all 700 stores formerly serviced by P&H. The rapid rate of transition has been a fantastic achievement, being delivered in less than nine months, and in the face of unprecedented disruption in the sector and for our business. With our new supply chain partner in place, we can refocus on day-to-day operations, including improving availability and rebuilding trade in those stores most affected by the disruption, and I'm grateful for the continued effort from all of my colleagues.

"Our new supply arrangement also brings with it the supermarket quality Safeway range, which will help us to improve our customer experience and neighbourhood convenience offering. We have also continued to execute our strategy and improve the quality of the estate through further store refreshes and acquisitions."

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 McColl's' total store estate is comprised of c.1,600 stores. The c.300 stores McColl's acquired from the Co-op in 2017 are under a separate supply contract with Nisa until 2020.

Enquiries

Please visit www.mccollsplc.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       

[phone]                                                             [phone]

Notes to editors

McColl's is a leading neighbourhood retailer, with an estate of around 1,600 managed convenience stores and newsagents. We operate McColl's branded convenience stores as well as newsagents branded Martin's across the UK, except in Scotland where we operate under our heritage brand, RS McColl. Our dedicated colleagues serve over five million customers every week, and we are the largest operator of Post Offices in the UK, with c.600 in-store counters/branches.

 

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