Refresco delivers on strategic goals and reports higher full year 2016 adjusted net profit

Q4 2016 Highlights¹:

• Total volume increased 18.6 % to 1,631 million liters.
• Gross profit margin per liter was 14.5 euro cents (Q4 2015: 14.8 euro cents).
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 7.9 % to €52 million.

FY 2016 Highlights¹:

• Total volume increased 6.0 % to 6,462 million liters.
• Co-Packing volumes increased 49.0 %, representing 26.8 % of total volume. Private Label volumes decreased 4.1 %, representing 73.2 % of total volume.
• Gross profit margin per liter was 14.2 euro cents (FY 2015: 14.2 euro cents).
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 2.7 % to €222 million.
• Adjusted net profit increased 11.1 % to €86 million and adjusted EPS increased 8.2 % to €1.06.
• Proposed cash dividend of €0.38 per share, subject to shareholder approval.

CEO Refresco, Hans Roelofs: “Looking back on the 2016 results and our strategic objectives, we are pleased to report good progress. Our strategy to grow rapidly the Co-Packing business is contributing very positively to volume development. With many branded players looking for international partners like Refresco, we expect this part of our business to continue to grow at a rapid pace.

We made strong progress on our buy & build strategy, strengthening our position in Europe with the acquisition of DIS. A major highlight of the year was undoubtedly the acquisition of Whitlock Packaging with which we took our first step into the US market. Integration of this business is now underway and proceeding smoothly. Buy & build remains an important focus for us and we see ample opportunities for consolidation – in Europe and the US – going forward.

In our operations we continued to invest in new bottling lines and warehousing facilities across the business, expanding further our capabilities especially in Aseptic PET. The expansion of our customer offering is an important driver of organic growth, which remains our top priority.

Finally, we are pleased to welcome Thomas Kunz as new Supervisory Board member and Vincent Delozière as additional Executive Board member, subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming AGM.”

¹Change percentages and totals calculated before rounding.

²Gross profit margin per liter, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS (euro cents)-pro forma, net debt ratio (net debt/LTM adjusted EBITDA) and adjusted net profit/(loss) are not a measure of our financial performance under IFRS. We apply adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net profit to exclude the effects of certain exceptional charges/gains that we believe are not indicative of our underlying operating performance. Such adjustments relate primarily to substantial one-off restructurings, costs/gains relating to acquisitions or disposals, refinancing, IPO relating costs and related tax effect.

³Adjusted EPS has been calculated based upon adjusted net profit. The number of issued shares amounts to 81.2 million shares in Q4 2016 and in Q4 2015. FY 2015 the number of shares was determined on a pro forma basis of 79.5 million.

Download: Refresco reports full year 2016 results