Biffa Plc has proposed final dividend has been reinstated at 4.69 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 6.89 pence per share.
Other Financial Highlights:
- Trading in the second half saw continued recovery from the impact of the pandemic, with ongoing organic growth13 supported by contributions from the Viridor business acquired during the year. Performance has remained resilient in the face of significant inflationary cost pressures, supply chain challenges and driver shortages.
- Record Group Statutory Revenue of £1,443.2m, up 39% on FY21 and up 24% on FY20, driven by organic recovery back to pre-pandemic levels, together with the contributions of Simply Waste, Company Shop Group ("CSG"), Viridor and the Biffa Polymers investments. Organic growth and acquisition growth contributed 22% and 17% respectively.
- Group Adjusted EBITDA2 rose to £195.0m, up 41% on FY21 (£138.2m) and up 12% on FY20 (£174.0m).
- Group Operating Profit improved to a loss of £8.3m (FY21: loss of £37.6m); (FY20: profit of £74.1m) and Adjusted Operating Profit4 more than doubled to £96.6m (FY21: £44.2m, FY20: £90.5m).
- The adjusting items in the year excluded from Adjusted Operating Profit include acquisition-related costs (£9.4m), strategy-related and restructuring costs (£4.8m), impairment of goodwill on CSG (£25.0m), unwind of EVP balances (£20.8m), provision relating to the HMRC landfill tax enquiry (£17.0m) and amortisation of acquisition intangibles (£29.6m).
- Group Leverage improved slightly during the year, with Covenant Basis Net Debt: EBITDA9 falling from 3.0x at March 21 to 2.9x at March 22, enabled by Net Cash Flow of £10.0m (FY21: £(57.0)m) despite the increased level of growth investment. All covenants are now measured on a post-IFRS 16 basis.
Landfill tax:
- We have been refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court on the EVP/fluff dispute which is in relation to historical landfill tax. This outcome does not have a material impact on cash or leverage. The impacts on the financial accounts have been included in adjusting items.
- As announced on 7 June 2022, Biffa is currently the subject of an enquiry by HMRC regarding certain aspects of its landfill tax compliance, as part of an industry-wide review of the sector. A provision of £20.0m has been recognised (with a current year charge of £17.0m in adjusting items) representing Biffa's best estimate of the potential liabilities, although there is a range of potential outcomes to the enquiry which is expected to continue for some time. Refer to Note 1 to the financial statements for more detail.
