Purchase of Own Shares

RNS Number : 0154V

Victoria PLC

05 August 2022

 

For Immediate Release    5 August 2022

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

Victoria PLC

('Victoria' or the 'Company' or 'Group')

Purchase of Own Shares

Victoria Plc. announces that yesterday it purchased 32,500 of its ordinary shares of 5 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") at an average price of 365.5 pence per share pursuant to the authorities obtained at the Company's last annual general meeting to make market purchases up to a maximum aggregate of 11,685,190 Ordinary Shares.

The Board believes that the current share price is materially below the intrinsic value of the business and indeed at the current levels few alternatives exist for capital deployment that will provide equivalently high, risk-weighted returns.

When making the decision to repurchase shares, the Board carefully considered the Company's current financial strength and resources available, its trading outlook, and global economic uncertainties. As confirmed in the recent FY2022 preliminary results announcement, Victoria has traded in line with expectations for the current year and continues to generate significant positive cash flow. Notwithstanding the consideration paid for the Balta acquisition in April, the Group remains with more than £200 million of liquidity (cash and undrawn credit lines) - an amount that is expected to increase materially this year.

T he Board emphasises that this is not the start of a longer-term programme to return capital to shareholders. However, subject to maintaining strict price discipline and operating within the regulatory limits , the Company may continue to buy shares up to the maximum permitted under the current authority provided by shareholders at the last AGM.

Aggregated information:

Date of purchase	4 August 2022
Number of Ordinary Shares purchased	32,500
Highest price paid per share	369.27p
Lowest price paid per share	353.46p
Volume weighted average price paid	365.49p

The repurchased shares will be held in Treasury, to be re-deployed when appropriate in a manner that will continue to create wealth for shareholders. Following the purchase of these shares, Victoria holds 8,770,685 of its Ordinary Shares in treasury and has 116,693,982 Ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares). This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency .

Executive Chairman, Geoff Wilding, commented,

"Share buybacks are not something to be undertaken lightly. However, there are times when the fundamental economics of doing so are utterly compelling. This is one of those times.

This buyback will result in a transfer of wealth from the selling shareholders to those that continue to hold their shares. However, given Victoria recently published its FY2022 results and provided guidance around expected FY2023 trading, we plan to continue to take advantage of the opportunity to buy back shares at levels we believe are materially below the intrinsic value of the Company."

Transaction details

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) (which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018), a detailed breakdown of individual trades is available below:

Number of Ordinary Shares purchased	Transaction price (GBp)	Time of transaction	Trading venue
5,000	353.46p	08:55:55	AIMX
12,500	367.00p	09:39:27	AIMX
5,000	366.19p	10:07:47	AIMX
10,000	369.27p	11:22:25	AIMX

The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company is Michael Scott, Group Finance Director. For more information contact: Victoria PLC Geoff Wilding, Executive Chairman Philippe Hamers, Group Chief Executive Michael Scott, Group Finance Director [phone] Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Rick Thompson, Phil Davies, Alex Bond [phone] Berenberg (Joint Broker) Ben Wright, Richard Bootle Peel Hunt (Joint Broker) Adrian Trimmings, Andrew Clark Buchanan Communications (Financial PR) Charles Ryland, Chris Lane, Jack Devoy [phone] [phone] [phone] About Victoria Established in 1895 and listed since 1963 and on AIM since 2013 (VCP.L), Victoria PLC, is an international manufacturer and distributor of innovative flooring products. The Group, which is headquartered in Kidderminster, UK, designs, manufactures and distributes a range of carpet, flooring underlay, ceramic tiles, LVT (luxury vinyl tile), artificial grass and flooring accessories. Victoria has operations in the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, the USA, and Australia and employs approximately 6,500 people across 30 sites. Victoria is the UK's largest carpet manufacturer and the second largest in Australia, as well as the largest manufacturer of underlay in both regions.  The Group's strategy is designed to create value for its shareholders and is focused on consistently increasing earnings and cash flow per share via acquisitions and sustainable organic growth. (Further information about Victoria can be found on its website, www.victoriaplc.com.)

 

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