DCC PLC Interim Management Statement (1135E)

TIDMDCC

RNS Number : 1135E

DCC PLC

07 February 2018

7 February 2018

DCC plc

Interim Management Statement

Trading in line with expectations and DCC Healthcare acquisition in US

DCC plc, the leading international sales, marketing and support services group, is issuing this Interim Management Statement for the third quarter ended 31 December 2017.

Third quarter ended 31 December 2017

Group operating profit for the third quarter ended 31 December 2017 was in line with expectations and ahead of the prior year.

Operating profit in DCC LPG was in line with expectations and the prior year, despite the headwind of an increasing cost of product. The mild weather conditions experienced early in the quarter impacted heating-related volumes modestly, although this was largely offset by good cost control. As previously announced, the French business launched its consumer natural gas and electricity initiative during the quarter and continues to invest in the development of its offering.

DCC Retail & Oil recorded good growth in operating profit, driven by strong organic profit growth in Denmark and Fuel Card. The business in Britain performed in line with expectations.

DCC Healthcare recorded strong growth in operating profit. DCC Vital delivered good organic profit growth, particularly in medical devices, and also benefited from the acquisition of Medisource completed during the prior year. DCC Health & Beauty Solutions again delivered strong growth in nutritional products.

Operating profit in DCC Technology was ahead of the prior year, benefiting from acquisitions and a good organic performance from the UK and Ireland, DCC Technology's largest business, where strong growth was achieved in the key product areas of audio visual, smart home and enterprise. The French consumer products business remains challenging and a number of operational changes are underway to improve performance. The remaining Continental European businesses continued to perform well and traded in line with expectations.

Year to 31 March 2018

Notwithstanding the mild start to the fourth quarter, particularly in France, DCC expects that both operating profit and adjusted earnings per share will be well ahead of the prior year and in line with current market consensus.

Development activity

The year to date has been very active from a development perspective. Reflecting the announced acquisition activity, the Group's cash spend on acquisitions in the current financial year will be approximately GBP670 million.

Today's announcement by DCC Healthcare of the acquisition of Elite One Source Nutritional Services, Inc ("Elite") is an exciting step in the expansion of DCC Health & Beauty Solutions. The acquisition is the business' first step into the growing US market, the world's leading healthcare and dietary supplements market. Based in Missoula, Montana, Elite is a provider of contract manufacturing and related services to leading specialist brands in the US consumer healthcare market. The business, led by an experienced management team, employs 180 people and operates from well-invested facilities which comply with FDA cGMP and Health Canada standards and are certified by leading third party regulatory bodies. The consideration, based on an enterprise value of $50 million (GBP35 million), was paid in cash on completion. Elite is expected to generate a return on capital employed of approximately 15% within the first two years of ownership.

The completion processes for the previously announced acquisitions of Retail West, TEGA and Countrywide are progressing to plan and all transactions are expected to complete by the end of the current financial year.

DCC remains ambitious to continue the growth and development of its business in existing and new geographies and retains a strong, well-funded and liquid balance sheet.

Final results

DCC expects to announce its results for the year to 31 March 2018 on 15 May 2018.

For reference:

Donal Murphy, Chief Executive

Fergal O'Dwyer, Chief Financial Officer

Kevin Lucey, Head of Capital Markets

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.dcc.ie

Powerscourt (Media)

Lisa Kavanagh / Victoria Palmer-Moore

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

About DCC plc

DCC is a leading international sales, marketing and support services group with a clear focus on performance and growth. It operates through four divisions: LPG, Retail & Oil, Healthcare and Technology.

DCC is an ambitious and entrepreneurial business operating in 15 countries, supplying products and services used by millions of people every day throughout Europe. Building strong routes to market, driving for results, focusing on cash conversion and generating superior sustainable returns on capital employed enable the Group to reinvest in its business, creating value for its stakeholders.

Headquartered in Dublin, employing approximately 10,000 people, DCC's four divisions are:

-- DCC LPG - a leading LPG sales and marketing business with operations in Europe and Asia and a developing business in the retailing of natural gas and electricity; -- DCC Retail & Oil - a leader in the sales, marketing and retailing of transport fuels and commercial fuels, heating oils and related products and services in Europe; -- DCC Healthcare - a leading healthcare business, providing products and services to healthcare providers and health and beauty brand owners; and -- DCC Technology - a leading European sales, marketing and services partner for global technology brands.

DCC plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100. In its financial year ended 31 March 2017, DCC generated revenue of GBP12.3 billion and operating profit of GBP345 million.

DCC has an excellent record, delivering compound annual growth of 14% in operating profit and generating an average return on capital employed of approximately 19% over 23 years as a public company.

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.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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February 07, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)