Financial Highlights
System sales increased by 13.8% to £326.5m (2012: £286.9m)
Continued strong operating margin, excluding Germany and Switzerland, of 21.2% (2012: 20.9%)
Profit before tax, excluding Germany and Switzerland, increased 10.3% to £25.7m (2012: £23.3m). Profit before tax, including Germany and Switzerland, after exceptional items, was £11.6m (2012: £21.5m)
Strong growth in like-for-like sales across the Group:
o UK up by 6.4% (2012: 5.7%)
o Republic of Ireland, in Euros, up by 6.5% (2012: 2.9%)
o Germany, in Euros, up by 23.8%
o Switzerland, in Swiss Francs, up by 7.8%
Earnings per share;
o Diluted earnings per share, excluding Germany and Switzerland, up 12.8% to 12.05p (2012: 10.68p)
o Basic earnings per share up 5.0% to 10.80p (2012: 10.29p)
o Diluted earnings per share up 5.4% to 10.71p (2012: 10.16p)
Interim dividend increased by 7.6% to 7.10p per share (2012: 6.60p)
Total of 22 new stores opened in the period (2012: 23) with two closures (2012: 1) resulting in a total of 825 stores as at 30 June 2013 (2012: 748)
Created nearly 600 new jobs in stores, expected to rise to over 1,500 by the end of the year
Online system sales increased by 29.2% (2012: 43.4%) to £156.7m (2012: £121.2m) with online sales accounting for 63.3% of UK delivered sales (2012: 52.4%). Of this, 27.5% of online orders were taken through a mobile device (2012: 17.9%)
Good progress being made in Switzerland with strong trading in the first half of the year and plans to open two stores (which were closed in the period) in their new locations within the next 12 months.
Strong balance sheet with adjusted net debt to EBITDA of 0.4:1 (2012: 0.4:1)
Commenting on the results Chief Executive Officer, Lance Batchelor, said:
"I am pleased with the overall results for the first half - particularly the core UK and Ireland businesses which have shown strong like-for-like sales growth against challenging comparatives. Our franchise system leads the leisure sector and, with the majority of our business coming via a web and mobile platform, we are now truly an online retailer.
"In our fledgling German business, as in the UK, our franchisees are those with the expertise to run great stores. Our Corporate stores have allowed us to test menus, develop marketing plans and understand the German consumer and are growing steadily. However the ground work is done and it is time to drive our German expansion using our tried and tested franchise model. We know the best way to get great results from stores is to put them in the hands of franchisees - and with five world-class franchisees now operating in the German market and more arriving shortly, we are excited about the future in this territory."
