Current Trading and Notice of Preliminary Results
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For Immediate Release |
1 June 2021 |
The information communicated within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Victoria PLC
('Victoria', the 'Company', or the 'Group')
Current Trading
and
Notice of Preliminary Results
Victoria PLC (LSE: VCP) the international designers, manufacturers and distributors of innovative flooring, announces the following positive current trading update and notice of results.
Strong Current Trading Continues
The Board confirms that trading continues to be very strong across all of Victoria's geographies and product groups, with double-digit percentage increases over 2019 (2020 comparatives are meaningless due to the complete lockdowns covering this period last year). Encouragingly, leading indicators, such as housing transactions, savings rates, and consumer confidence, suggest that the current high levels of consumer demand for Victoria's products will be sustained for the foreseeable future.
The Company is pleased to advise shareholders that it has been able to mitigate the inflation recently seen globally in certain raw material prices (albeit we expect this inflation to be only transitory) through a combination of selling price increases and supplier negotiations.
Additionally, the Group is very pleased with the post-completion performance of the recently announced acquisitions. Our management team is now fully engaged integrating these businesses into our existing operations, and we are confident that the acquired businesses will have a meaningful positive impact on our earnings and free cash flow this financial year.
Work continues on further acquisition opportunities and the Board anticipates being able to report additional acquisition-led growth in the short-term. Following the Koch Equity Development preferred equity investment in November and the subsequent bond issue in February and March of this year, the Company has a significant amount of capital ready to deploy for acquisitions and expects to do so, whilst maintaining the Group's stated financial policy.
Notice of Results
Victoria will announce its preliminary results for year ended 3 April 2021 on Tuesday, 20 July 2021.
An analyst briefing will be held at 10.00am on the morning of results. To register your attendance please contact Buchanan on 0207 466 5000 or at victoriaplc@buchanan.uk.com. The format of the presentation, (either virtual or face to face), will be confirmed nearer the time.
Chief Executive, Philippe Hamers, said
"In my 30 years in the industry, I have never known it to be busier at this time of the year. Our continually enhanced service proposition has proven to be the cornerstone of the Company's growth trajectory. Victoria's production is running at full capacity and some of our factories have orders taking all their output through until autumn. We are out-sourcing some production to ensure service standards are met and market share gains sustained.
The value of our management team's depth of industry experience and entrepreneurial initiative has proven invaluable as we have been able to overcome the risk of potential raw material shortages by leveraging our long-term relationships, size, and extensive knowledge of supply chain options.
I am confident shareholders will be very pleased with the way the business is performing this year."
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:
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Victoria PLC Geoff Wilding, Executive Chairman Philippe Hamers, Group Chief Executive Michael Scott, Group Finance Director |
+44 (0) 1562 749 610 |
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N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Rick Thompson, Phil Davies, Alex Bond
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+44 (0) 207 496 3095 |
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Berenberg (Joint Broker) Ben Wright, Mark Whitmore, Tejas Padalkar
Peel Hunt (Joint Broker) Adrian Trimmings, Andrew Clark
Buchanan Communications (Financial PR) Charles Ryland, Chris Lane, Tilly Abraham |
+44 (0) 203 207 7800
+44 (0) 207 418 8900
+44 (0) 20 7466 5000 |
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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, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia and employs over 3,500 people across more than 20 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 is also a significant player in the European ceramic tile and artificial grass markets. 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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