Partnership with leading premium and luxury OEMs delivered robust revenue and profit growth
• Operating margin of 4.4%, up 10 bps year on year and back to peak
• Fourth consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth and over 20% ROCE
• Strong profit performance from Trivett Automotive group acquired in March 2013
• Returned £125m cash to shareholders through dividends and share buy backs in 2013
Financial highlights:
• Reported sales up 7.7% to £6.5bn (2012: £6.1bn) and like for like sales up 3.0% at constant currency
• Pre-exceptional PBT up 11.2% to £274.6m (2012: £247.0m)
• Reported PBT £266.1m (2012: £247.7m), up 7.4%
• Adjusted EPS growth of 11.3% to 43.5p (2012: 39.1p)
• Operating cash flow of £227.0m (2012: £249.2m)
• £50m of Group's £100m share buy back programme completed by year end
• Board recommends final dividend of 11.7p per share giving a total dividend for the year of 17.4p per share
(2012: 14.5p), up 20%
André Lacroix, Group CEO of Inchcape plc, commented:
"Inchcape's strategic partnership with the world's leading premium and luxury brands and our differentiated Customer 1st strategy continue to deliver robust revenue growth which, combined with our operational discipline on cost, has enabled the Group to deliver double-digit earnings growth. The share buy back programme and 20% increase in the full year dividend demonstrate our commitment to capital discipline and delivering shareholder value.
2013 marks the fourth consecutive year of double-digit EPS growth and return on capital of over 20%. This is testament to the Inchcape busines model. We operate in the right international markets with the right premium and luxury brands and generate diversified profit streams from the right categories.
The acquisition of the Trivett Automotive group in Australia has successfully increased the Group's footprint in the region and as the integration completes, and we leverage commercial synergies, this will further boost the prospects for our expanded business.
The Group has a track record of delivering sustainable earnings growth with a high return on capital employed. We expect to deliver a robust constant currency performance in 2014 as we will benefit from broad-based growth across our markets and categories. Our partnership with the world's leading OEMs, our industry-leading processes and the strength of our balance sheet positions us well to seize attractive consolidation opportunities in high margin and high growth markets."
