Van Elle Holdings PLC Trading Update & Notice of Results (0128H)

TIDMVANL

RNS Number : 0128H

Van Elle Holdings PLC

01 December 2020

Van Elle Holdings plc

("Van Elle", the "Company" or the "Group")

Trading Update

& Notice of Results

Van Elle Holdings plc (AIM: VANL), the UK's largest ground engineering contractor, today provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2020 (the "Period") ahead of announcing its half-year results, which are expected to be released on Wednesday 20 January 2021.

Trading during the first quarter was heavily disrupted by Covid-19, following a low point in April 2020 (the final month of FY2020) in which 80% of revenues were lost. Activity levels steadily recovered during the Period, slightly ahead of management's planning assumptions. Revenues in September and October reached pre-Covid levels, enabling the Group to trade profitably, albeit the rate of recovery in demand has not been uniform across end market segments. Specialist Piling has shown the strongest recovery in the Period, whilst activity in the Rail division remains subdued. Housing and General Piling have also recovered steadily, although the latter continues to experience some market volatility.

Encouragingly, the current lockdown restrictions have enabled the Group and its customers to maintain operations in most instances. Consequently it is expected that, subject to normal seasonal patterns, the steady recovery trends in the infrastructure and housebuilding markets, described above, will continue into the second half. Increased uncertainty has impacted customer decision making in the commercial and general construction markets in November and so the Board is cautiously expecting activity in General Piling to be subdued during the third quarter, with a sustained recovery as the post-Covid backdrop stabilises.

The Group expects, subject to completion of the interim audit review, to report first half revenues of c.GBP38m (H1 2020: GBP48.5m), reflecting the adverse impact of the first quarter.

Net funds, excluding IFRS 16 property lease liabilities, at 31 October 2020 was GBP4.6m (31 October 2019: net debt of GBP6.4m). The Company's cash position at 31 October 2020 was GBP9.8m, which was impacted by an increase in working capital requirements due to the stronger revenue recovery in September and October. With the current cash position and the undrawn ABN AMRO Commercial Finance facility of up to GBP11m, the Group continues to remain well-positioned to trade through this period of recovery and take advantage of opportunities as its markets return to normality.

Notice of Results:

Van Elle expects to announce its half-year results on Wednesday 20 January 2021. A briefing for Analysts will be held at 9.30am on the morning of the results. Analysts interested in attending should contact Walbrook PR on [e-mail] or 020 7933 8780.

Enquiries:

 
 Van Elle Holdings plc                      Via Walbrook 
 Mark Cutler, Chief Executive Officer 
 Graeme Campbell, Chief Financial Officer 
 
 Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser and       Tel: [phone] 
  corporate broker) 
 Mike Bell/Ed Allsopp 
 
 Walbrook PR Limited                        Tel: [phone] or [e-mail] 
 Tom Cooper/Nick Rome/Nicholas Johnson      07971 221 972 or 07748 325 236 
                                             or 07884 664 686 
 

About Van Elle Holdings plc:

Van Elle Holdings is the UK's largest specialist geotechnical engineering contractor. The Company provides a range of ground engineering techniques and services including - ground investigation, general and specialist piling, rail geotechnical engineering, modular foundations, and ground improvement and stabilisation services.

Van Elle operates through three divisions: general piling, specialist piling and ground engineering; and is focused on three end markets; residential and housing, infrastructure and regional construction - across which the Group has completed more than 20,000 projects over the last 35 years.

General piling provides a range of larger piling and ground engineering solutions for open-site construction projects. Specialist piling provides a range of geotechnical solutions in operationally constrained environments including on-track rail applications. Ground engineering services offers a range of ground investigation and geotechnical services and modular foundation solutions such as Smartfoot(R). Van Elle has a market-leading reputation and the UK's largest modern rig fleet of 118 rigs.

Having floated on AIM in 2016 it now has a strong national presence, diversified offering and market-leading brand name.

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December 01, 2020 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)