DCC confident of strong year on back of good start

DCC owns the Flogas brand. Its LPG business saw increased demand from commercial and industrial customers, particularly in Britain.

DCC – the Irish fuel-to-healthcare conglomerate – has said it already expects its current financial year, which runs to the end of next March, to generate “strong” operating profit growth and continued development activity.

Shares in the group jumped by over 2% on the back of a bullish first-quarter trading update released to coincide with its annual shareholders’ meeting.

DCC has completed a number of bolt-on acquisitions since reporting its annual results in May and said it “continues to be active” from a development perspective.

DCC said it traded “very well” in the three months to the end of June; which makes up the seasonally less-significant first quarter of its financial year.

"Operating profit growth was well ahead of the prior year and modestly ahead of expectations, driven by very strong organic profit growth in DCC Healthcare and DCC Technology,” the group said.

Its LPG business saw increased demand from commercial and industrial customers, particularly in Britain; while DCC’s retail and oil division recorded good profit growth and its healthcare division generated “very strong” growth in Europe and the US.

Davy has upgraded its full-year earnings outlook for DCC by 11% on the back of the latest trading update.

"With effectively zero debt, an ‘active’ M&A pipeline and optionality on buybacks, we think earnings momentum will remain firmly positive," Davy said.

DCC said its North American businesses have performed well since economies started reopening from Covid restrictions.