Executive chairman Jim Delegat was pleased with the 13% increase in North American sales but there was a 12% reduction in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region, on which he didn’t elaborate.
Case sales in the six months to December 31 in Britain, Ireland and Europe were up 28%, continuing the very strong performance of the company’s Oyster Bay brand.
Global case sales were 1,733,000 and the revenue $156.7 million , up $13.7m, from a combination of increased case sales and favourable currency exchange movements.
Delegat said the company is on track to achieve global case sales for the full year of 3,240,000, up 8% on last year when just over 3m cases were sold.
Based on the prevailing exchange rates it also forecasts a 2020 operating profit in line with market consensus of $52.4m.
Net debt on December 31 was $268m, down from $291.5m, and the equity to equity plus debt ratio has improved from 53.5% to 58%.
Delegat shares are trading about $11, having moved in the $10 and $12 range during the past year. The company paid a fully imputed dividend of 17c following the 2019 financial year.
