7 February 2024
Interim Management
Statement
DCC plc, the leading
international sales, marketing and support services group, is
issuing this Interim Management Statement for the third quarter
ended 31 December 2023.
Operating profit guidance for year reiterated; Development
activity continues
Group
adjusted operating profit for the third quarter ended 31 December
2023 was modestly ahead of the prior year, a good performance given
the volatile macro environment.
DCC Energy
delivered good operating profit growth, driven by the performance
of Energy Solutions, despite mild weather conditions in most
regions during the third quarter of the financial year. Although
operating profit declined in both DCC Healthcare and DCC
Technology, the rate of decline improved relative to the first half
of the year. In DCC
Healthcare, DCC Health & Beauty Solutions saw improved market
conditions, albeit remaining subdued relative to historic growth
rates. As in the
first half of the year, DCC Technology experienced difficult
trading conditions in the consumer technology sector.
Outlook
DCC continues to
expect that the year ending 31 March 2024 will be another year of
operating profit growth in line with expectations, and continued
development activity.
Development activity
DCC has had an active
year from a development perspective and has now committed
approximately £355 million to acquisitions since our prior year
Final Results in May 2023. Since the Interim Results announcement
in November 2023, DCC Energy has committed approximately £45
million to new acquisitions which will further strengthen the
energy management services and renewables offering of the business,
including:
· The agreement to acquire the Energy
Management division of eEnergy Group plc ("EML"). EML provides
energy management services including energy procurement, market
analysis, risk management and net zero pathway consulting to
industrial, commercial, and public sector customers in the UK.
EML's technology and services empowers customers to identify and
eliminate energy waste and reduce their carbon emissions. The
transaction is conditional upon eEnergy Group plc shareholder
approval and is expected to complete by the end of the financial
year.
· Complementary bolt-on acquisitions in
Austria, Ireland and a renewable fuels distributor in the
UK.
In November 2023, DCC
announced the agreement to acquire Progas, a leading distributor of
LPG in Germany, subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is
progressing as anticipated and is expected to complete by the end
of the financial year.
Date for Final Results
DCC expects to
announce its results for the year ending 31 March 2024 on Tuesday
14 May 2024.
Contact information
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Investor
enquiries:
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Kevin Lucey, Chief Financial Officer
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Tel: +353 1 2799 400
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Rossa White, Head of Group Investor Relations
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Email: investorrelations@dcc.ie
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Media
enquiries:
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Powerscourt (Eavan Gannon/Pete Lambie)
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Tel: +44 20 7250 1446
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Email:
DCC@powerscourt-group.com
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About DCC plc
DCC is a leading
international sales, marketing and support services group. We
provide solutions the world needs across three transformative
sectors: energy, healthcare and technology; where we acquire,
improve and grow diverse businesses. We bring our growth mindset to
our businesses in 22 countries across four continents, empowering
our 16,000 employees to create long term value - for our
shareholders, customers, society and the planet.
Headquartered in
Dublin, DCC plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a
constituent of the FTSE 100. In our financial year ended 31
March 2023, DCC generated revenues of £22.2 billion and
adjusted operating profit of £655.7 million. DCC has an
excellent record, delivering compound annual growth of 14% in
adjusted operating profit and generating an average return on
capital employed of approximately 19% over 29 years as a public
company.
Follow us on LinkedIn
www.dcc.ie
Forward-looking statements
This announcement
contains some forward-looking statements that represent DCC's
expectations for its business, based on current expectations about
future events, which by their nature involve risk and uncertainty.
DCC believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to
these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however because
they involve risk and uncertainty as to future circumstances, which
are in many cases beyond DCC's control, actual results or
performance may differ materially from those expressed in or
implied by such forward-looking statements.