Quarter 3 Trading Update

3 September 2015

McColl's Retail Group plc

Quarter 3 Trading Update

McColl's Retail Group plc ("McColl's" or "the group") today announces its trading update for the 13 week period to 30 August 2015.

Financial and operational highlights

§ Good growth in total sales up 3.0% for the quarter and 3.3% year to date.

§ Third quarter like-for-like (LFL) sales1 down 2.3%.

§ Year to date LFL sales down 2.0% split as below:

o LFL sales in premium convenience and food and wine slightly down by 0.4%.

o LFL sales in standard convenience and newsagents down by 4.6%.

§ Convenience store expansion strategy on track for the year to date and continuing to capture market share:

o 46 new stores acquired.

o 26 food and wine conversions completed.

o Alcohol introduced to 100 newsagents.

o 500th post office opened.

o Agreement signed with Subway to trial a franchise operation.

§ Existing £85m revolving credit facility extended to August 2020 on beneficial terms.

James Lancaster, chief executive commented:

"We have made further solid progress in the third quarter in what continues to be a challenging time for the sector. Whilst LFL sales were down overall, our premium and food and wine convenience stores continued to outperform our newsagents and standard convenience stores. We have made excellent progress on acquisitions and store developments, and we now have 500 post offices. We have also taken advantage of improvements in the credit markets since flotation and I am delighted with the revision to the terms of our banking facilities which will result in lower interest costs. We remain on track to achieve results in line with the board's expectations for the full year."

Financial highlights

Total group sales grew by 3.0% year on year in the 13 weeks to 30 August 2015, driven by new store acquisitions. LFL sales were down 2.3% for the quarter and 2.0% for the year to date, but held up better in food and wine and premium convenience stores than in standard convenience stores and newsagents, underlining the group's strategy.

During the period the group signed an amended £85m revolving credit and £15m accordion facility, extending maturity to August 2020 and improving the margin paid by a minimum of 50 basis points.

Operational highlights

The group continues to execute its strategy to enhance its offering in the convenience sector through store conversions and acquisitions, improving and extending its product range and widening the choice of services it provides.

In line with its plans for the quarter, the group acquired 21 stores, including a group of 6, and converted 10 newsagents to food and wine format. Year to date the group has acquired 46 stores and 26 food and wine stores have been created. 

The group continues to achieve strong sales performance from the food to go category following the introduction of coffee and snacking modules to 119 stores in the first half of the financial year. An agreement was also signed with Subway under which the group will operate a franchise in an existing convenience store. This is expected to open during October 2015.

Following 45 further conversions "Project 100" was completed in the quarter, in which a focussed and competitively priced alcohol range has been introduced into 100 newsagents for the first time. The group also opened its 500th post office during the period.

McColl's now has a total of 866 convenience stores representing 64% of the group's total store base of 1,346 and is on track to achieve its target of 1,000 convenience stores by the end of 2016.

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Please visit www.mccolls.co.uk or for further information, please contact:

McColl's Retail Group plc + 44 (0)1277 372 916

James Lancaster, Chief executive

Jonathan Miller, Chief financial officer

Dave Thomas, Chief operating officer

Media Enquiries +44 (0)20 7404 5959

Brunswick

Anita Scott

Cerith Evans