Total Produce profits up 3.8%

FRUIT and vegetable distribution company, Total Produce, has reported a 3.8% year-on-year rise in first half pre-tax profit to €25.3 million; with revenues up, by the same measure, by 1.7% at €1.33 billion.

The adjusted profit figure doesn’t allow for exceptional items and when these are taken into account the company’s pre-tax profits amounted to €21.7m for the first six months of the year, up from €20.9m for the same period last year.

Adjusted earnings per share (again, before exceptional items, amortisation and related tax was factored in) was up by 1.5%, year-on-year, at 4.12c. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose by 3% to €33.7m.

Total’s chairman, Carl McCann said that the company had managed to deliver a “solid performance” for the first half of the year, after an unpromising start.

He added: “After a slow start to the year, due to unusually cold weather throughout Europe, demand for the group’s produce recovered with the group also benefiting from favourable currency translation movements.”

Mr McCann also said that the group’s adjusted earnings per share for the full year should tilt towards the upper end of management’s annual target range of 5.5c-to-6.5c, “assuming current trading conditions continue.”

Analyst commentary in the aftermath of yesterday’s results was broadly positive – Davy’s Aiden O’Donnell saying: “Overall, this is a strong out-turn especially given the weak first quarter. We can only assume that the business gained strong momentum as the half progressed.”

Davy has kept its ‘outperform’ rating on the Total Produce stock.