Volution : Interim Results 2020

Results in line with expectations, good progress on margin expansion and cash conversion

Volution Group plc ('Volution' or 'the Group' or 'the Company', LSE: FAN), a leading supplier of ventilation products to the residential and commercial construction markets, today announces its unaudited interim financial results for the 6 months ended 31 January 2020.

RESULTS SUMMARY

	6 months to 31 January 2020	6 months to 31 January 2019	Movement	Movement (constant currency)
Revenue (£m)	118.8	114.8	3.4%	5.0%
Adjusted operating profit (£m)	21.8	20.2	7.6%	9.1%
Adjusted profit before tax (£m)	20.5	19.1	7.2%
Adjusted EPS (pence)	8.2	7.7	6.5%
Reported operating profit (£m)	14.0	11.3	24.4%
Reported profit before tax (£m)	11.9	10.2	16.7%
Reported basic EPS (pence)	4.7	4.1	14.6%
Adjusted operating cash flow (£m)	22.3	15.5	43.5%
Reported net debt (£m)	80.9	74.4	6.5
Like-for-like net debt (IAS 17 basis) (£m)	60.5	74.4	(13.9)
Interim dividend per share (p)	1.71	1.60	6.9%

The Group uses some alternative performance measures to track and assess the underlying performance of the business. These measures include adjusted operating profit, adjusted profit before tax, adjusted EPS and adjusted operating cash flow. For a definition of all the adjusted and non-GAAP measures, please see the glossary of terms in note 18. A reconciliation to reported measures is set out in note 2. The results for the six months to 31 January 2020 are presented on an IFRS 16 basis, the prior period has not been restated. The impact of applying IFRS 16 can be seen in note 1 of the interim financial statements.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Revenue growth of 3.4% (5.0% at constant currency):
  • organic revenue decline of 2.8% (1.4% at constant currency) mainly due to UK Commercial and Nordics markets; and
  • inorganic revenue growth of 6.2% (6.4% at constant currency) as a result of the acquisition of Ventair Pty Limited in Australia in March 2019.
• Adjusted operating profit increased by 7.6% to £21.8 million (9.1% at constant currency) due to revenue growth and margin expansion.
• Adjusted operating profit margin improvement of 0.7pp (1.3pp organic) to 18.3% (H1 2019: 17.6%) assisted by Reading improvement and a range of initiatives.
• Reported profit before tax increased by 16.7% to £11.9 million (H1 2019: £10.2 million) with no exceptional costs in the period (H1 2019: £1.2 million).
• Adjusted operating cash inflow of £22.3 million (H1 2019: £15.5 million) with strong cash conversion of 99.5% (H1 2019: 74.5%).
• Net debt restated for IFRS 16 of £80.9 million:
  • Like-for-like reduction of £13.9 million due to strong cash conversion;
  • Leverage on a like-for-like basis under IAS 17 reduced to 1.3x (H1 2019: 1.7x); and
  • £20.4 million increase as a result of adopting IFRS 16 in the period.
• Interim dividend of 1.71 pence per share, up 6.9% (H1 2019: 1.60 pence), reflecting strong profitability and free cash generation.

STRATEGICAL AND OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

• The integration of Ventair in Australia is progressing well. The planned extension of their product range is taking shape and will introduce a significant range of new products in to the Australian market.
• The new products launched in to the UK Residential Public refurbishment market are being well received by customers and assisting with gaining new accounts.
• The Xenion range of upgraded decentralised heat recovery products in Germany has performed strongly in the period with further enhancements to the range launching in the second half of this financial year.
• The Operational Excellence programme is progressing well with wide ranging initiatives being implemented to expand operating margins.
• Our injection-moulding, extrusion and fan assembly facility in Reading, UK is underpinning our ambitious plans to introduce additional refurbishment products in a number of our markets.

Commenting on the Group's performance, Ronnie George, Chief Executive Officer, said:

'Volution has again delivered a good overall performance with continued strong cash conversion and an increase in the operating margin despite challenges in the UK Commercial and Nordic Projects markets. Aside from these areas we are pleased with how our revenue developed and the focus on our Operational Excellence programme has delivered organic margin expansion in all three geographic regions. The regulatory and consumer demands for ventilation are becoming more stringent and we continue to innovate bringing new products to market to take advantage of these exciting trends.

Our highest priority at Volution is for the safety and wellbeing of our employees. We are carefully and continually monitoring guidance relating to COVID-19 from the authorities in the countries in which we operate, implementing any necessary steps, and ensuring that we communicate clearly and frequently with our employees. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank all of our teams for the way they have responded and for their continuing hard work and dedication throughout the first half-year.'

Outlook

The rapidly evolving Coronavirus pandemic and measures taken by governments to control the virus is creating significant uncertainty and is very likely to have a material impact on the global economy. Whilst it is hard to forecast the direct impact on our business at this point there is clearly potential for adverse impacts on both supply and demand. However we continue to take actions to monitor and secure our supply chain and have limited sales exposure to some of the most affected countries to date (China, Italy and South Korea). As at the date of this report trading in the second half of the financial year has continued on a similar basis to the first half performance. We continue to focus on cash generation and on Operational Excellence to underpin the expansion in our adjusted operating profit margin. We also have a number of new product launches planned in the coming months. Medium term we continue to see favourable regulatory drivers as increasingly supportive of energy-efficient ventilation solutions.

-Ends-

For further information:

Enquiries:

Volution Group plc
Ronnie George, Chief Executive Officer
[phone]

Andy O'Brien, Chief Financial Officer
[phone]

Tulchan Communications
James Macey White
David Allchurch
Giles Kernick
[phone]

A conference call for analysts will be held at 9.30am today, Monday 16 March. Please contact [e-mail] to register and for instructions on how to connect to the conference facility.

A copy of this announcement and the presentation given to analysts will be available on our website www.volutiongroupplc.com from 7.00 am on Monday 16 March.

Certain information contained in this announcement would have constituted inside information (as defined by Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) prior to its release as part of this announcement.

Volution Group plc Legal Entity Identifier: 213800EPT84EQCDHO768.

Note to Editors:

Volution Group plc (LSE: FAN) is a leading supplier of ventilation systems and products to both the residential and commercial construction markets in the UK, Continental Europe and Australasia.

Volution Group comprises 16 key brands across the three regions:
UK: Vent-Axia, Manrose, Diffusion, National Ventilation, Airtech, Breathing Buildings & Torin-Sifan;
Continental Europe: Fresh, PAX, VoltAir, Kair, Air Connection, inVENTer, & Ventilair; and
Australasia: Simx & Ventair.

For more information, please go to: www.volutiongroupplc.com

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements which are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of a date in the future or such words as 'will', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'expect', 'project', 'intend', 'plan', 'should', 'may', 'assume' and other similar words. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.