Results For The Full Year Ended 31 December 2015

19 February 2016

FY 2015: SOLID PROGRESS DESPITE OIL & GAS CHALLENGE REVENUE EXCEEDS £1BN FOR THE FIRST TIME
FY 2016: CONTINUED DELIVERY OF BALANCED, PROFITABLE GROWTH

FY 2015 highlights:

• Revenue ahead 27% at constant FX to £1.1bn.
• Like-for-like¹ (“LFL”) revenue +5% ex-Pipe Protection Technologies (“PPT”): total Group +1%.
• Adjusted operating profit2 up 20% (at constant FX) to £172m.
• LFL1, 2 operating margin +70bps ex-PPT, total Group LFL margin +10bps.
• Significant site rationalisation across the Group, particularly in Health & Personal Care Packaging.
• Adjusted EPS2 ahead 13% (at constant FX) to 47.6p.
• Tax rate on adjusted profit reduced by 210bps to 22.8%.
• Net debt of £374m (FY 2014: £62m), with cash flow generation offset by the acquisition of Clondalkin Specialist Packaging Division (“SPD”) and higher dividends.
• 13% increase in the full year dividend to 20.7p per share.

Results at a glance:

	FY 2015 £m	FY 2014 £m	% change Actual FX	% change Constant FX
1 Excludes the impact of acquisitions, disposals and foreign exchange 2 Before intangible amortisation and exceptional operating items 3 Net income is defined as profit after tax
Revenue	1,098	866	+27%	+27%
Operating profit – adjusted2	172	143	+20%	+20%
Pre-tax profit – adjusted2	161	133	+21%	+21%
Net income – adjusted2, 3	124	100	+24%	+23%
Basic earnings per share – adjusted2	47.6p	41.9p	+14%	+13%
Dividend per share	20.7p	18.3p	+13%
Operating profit	101	109	-7%	-8%
Net income3	69	72	-4%	-6%
Basic earnings per share	26.2p	30.0p	-13%	-14%

Commenting on today's results, Colin Day, Chief Executive, said:

"Essentra made a solid start to our Drive for 2020 strategy notwithstanding the challenging environment in the Oil & Gas industry, with like-for-like revenue growth of 5% and the adjusted operating margin up 70 basis points excluding the impact of Pipe Protection Technologies.

We also made encouraging progress with the integration of the Clondalkin Specialist Packaging Division and, having closed (or being in the process of closing) some nine of the 24 sites acquired, we are on track to deliver our US$24m cost synergy target – being a 50% upward revision from our ingoing expectation. Over and above the acquisition rationalisation, we consolidated a further five facilities across the Group, to better leverage our footprint and generate additional opportunities for efficiency savings.

In an environment where economic growth is by no means well-established or uniform – notably in the Oil & Gas industry - we are nonetheless confident of delivering balanced profitable growth in 2016, due to our international footprint and diverse range of products and end-markets."

Results For The Full Year Ended 31 December 2015 0.86MB