LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock Spirits Group PLC on Thursday posted weaker pretax profit and revenue for 2015 following a slump in its market share in Poland.
The branded spirits distributor said its pretax profit fell to EUR19.4 million in the year to the end of December, down 46% on the EUR35.8 million posted a year earlier, as revenue fell to EUR262.6 million from EUR292.7 million.
The group has suffered throughout the year with a competitive pricing environment and irregular buying patterns from its customers in Poland. In 2015, its market share in Poland declined to 30.9% from 38.1% a year earlier, though it returned to profit in the second half.
Total sales volumes fell to 11.8 million cases in the year as a whole, down from 14.4 million the year earlier, as the problems in Poland offset growth in the Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia and Serbia.
Stock Spirits Chief Executive Chris Heath said the company has completed a review of the Polish business and will be undertaking actions to try to restore the business to health, particularly given the difficultly in identifying meaningful acquisitions to broaden its geographic presence.
"2015 saw another year of disruption in the Polish market, and I am personally very disappointed that we had to issue revised profit guidance in November 2015," Heath said. "Our team in Poland have worked incredibly hard to put in place the necessary building blocks to return the business to growth."
Stock Spirits said its cashflow remained robust over the year and its balance sheet is strong. Net debt shrunk to EUR57.2 million at the end of December from EUR82.4 million a year before.
As a result, it will pay a final dividend of 4.55 euro cents per share, taking its total payout to 5.80 cents, a 55% rise year-on-year.
"In addition, if we are not able to announce a meaningful acquisition in the near term, the board will consider the best way to return further capital to shareholders," Heath said.
Stock Spirits shares were down 2.2% to 145.00p Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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