Filta Group Holdings PLC AGM Statement (8871B)

TIDMFLTA

RNS Number : 8871B

Filta Group Holdings PLC

12 June 2019

12 June 2019

Filta Group Holdings plc

("Filta" the "Company" or the "Group")

AGM Statement

Filta Group Holdings plc (AIM: FLTA), a provider of fryer management, grease management and other services to commercial kitchens, will make the following statement regarding current trading at its Annual General Meeting to be held at 11.00 a.m. today:

"As reported in the statement accompanying the 2018 results, our focus has been the integration of Watbio into our existing UK activities during the first half of 2019. Over the course of the last 5 months we have brought the activities of Filta and Watbio together to two main locations only 25 miles apart, Rugby and Stratford-on-Avon, have rationalised the UK management structure, have begun to reposition Watbio towards higher margin service offerings and have introduced new scheduling software to both Watbio and our other UK Company-owned businesses. Whilst there is still some work to be completed, we are already beginning to see operational synergies and improved customer servicing. We expect to see the full benefits of these investments in the second half of the year through increased revenues and improved margins.

During this period of integration, the combined Watbio and GMG revenues have been similar to what they achieved in the same period of the previous year, and those of FiltaSeal are up by 18%.

In North America, FiltaFry has achieved double digit growth in royalty and national account income, driven by the enlarged fleet of MFUs, which has increased by 14 in the first 5 months of the year, taking the total to 406 (366 at 31 May 2018). Additionally, revenues from FiltaBio in the 5 months to 31 May 2019 are up by 34% on the same period last year. Our focus in North America continues to be on improving the quality and ambitions of our franchisees, by encouraging our existing franchisees to broaden their territories and to increase the size of their MFU fleets, as well as by using all efforts and incentives to attract the best quality of new franchisees.

We have also seen continued progress in Europe, with a further 5 franchisees and 5 MFUs added in the current year already, taking us to 17 franchisees and 20 MFUs across 4 different countries. Having invested in additional resources to support this growth, we expect that our European business will be trading profitably on a monthly basis by the end of the year.

As a result of the revenue and margin improvements targeted through the integration of Watbio, we expect that revenue and profits will be skewed slightly more than is usual towards the second half, and that the out-turn for the full year will be in line with market expectations."

For further information:

 
 Filta Group Holdings plc                [phone] 
 Jason Sayers, Chief Executive 
  Brian Hogan, Finance Director 
 
 Cenkos Securities (NOMAD and broker)    [phone] 
 Stephen Keys 
 Harry Hargreaves 
 

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June 12, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)