Xpediator Plc Full Year Results

As part of the Xpediator Plc Group, a leading provider of freight management services across the UK and Central and Eastern Europe, we are pleased to announce the Group’s final results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2020.

2020 Financial Highlights

Generated Group turnover of £221.2m (2019: £213.2m) an increase of 3.7% reflecting a generally resilient performance during the Covid-19 impacted months coupled with a strong performance in the last quarter of 2020Delivered a 38.5% increase in adjusted profit before tax of £7.2m (2019: £5.2m) helped by early cost reductions in March 2020, alongside some core markets benefiting from Covid-19 related changes and with areas of weakness (e.g. high street retail and transport services) being offset by the diversity of businesses across multiple markets

• Reported profit before tax of £3.9m (2019: £2.2m)Adjusted basic earnings per share of 3.84 pence (2019: 2.80 pence)
• Basic earnings per share of 1.46 pence (2019 : 0.60 pence)
• Strong cash generation and working capital management continues with net cash stable at £6.8 m despite paying £4.4m (2019: £0.2m) in deferred acquisition payments
• Dividend per share increased by 12.8% to 1.50 pence (2019: 1.33 pence)

2020 Operational Highlights

• Appointment of Robert Ross as new CEO in October 2020, previously Group CFO and in March 2021 appointment of Mike Williamson as new CFO
• Reaffirmed core strategic outlook coupled with new CEO vision for how to achieve commercial objectives
• Recorded strong growth in the Freight Forwarding Division supported by resilient  and profitable performances by both the Transport and Warehouse & Logistics divisions both of which were held back by the pandemic:

– Freight Forwarding delivered revenue of £171.0m, an increase of 7.1%

– Warehouse & Logistics delivered revenue of £44.5m, a decrease of 6.3%

– Transport Services delivered revenue of £5.7m, a decrease of 6.9%

• On 5 October 2020 completed the successful acquisition of Nidd Transport Ltd
• Disposal of loss making B2C business EshopWedrop

2021 Outlook

• First quarter trading results are positive and ahead of management expectations
• Consolidation and improved overall financing terms of UK banking facilities with a new £18m finance facility with Investec Bank Plc replacing the existing £9.5m facility
• Managing transportation post Brexit more complex than anticipated with customers requiring additional support which is net profitable for the Group
• First full year of benefit from £0.5m of annualised cost savings made as part of the response to the pandemic
• Healthy pipeline of potential acquisitions

Alex Borrelli, Chairman, commented:

“We are naturally very pleased to have delivered this performance during such a challenging year. Increasing both revenues and profitability is an excellent achievement and we think confirms the strength of the platform the Group has. Added to this, we now have a new senior management team led by CEO Robert Ross whilst retaining the expertise and knowledge of Stephen Blyth, the founder of the business, on the Board.

Our aim to become a leading international freight management and logistics provider, is unchanged. We continue to examine strategic acquisitions with a focus on building a scalable and risk adjusted platform to support an expanding portfolio of freight management companies across the UK and Europe with a particular expertise on Central and Eastern Europe. 2021 has begun well and we are quietly confident of our ability to achieve our objectives.”