Zetar Plc (LON:ZTR) , the AIM listed confectionary and snack company, yesterday announced its preliminary results for the period ending 30th April 2010. The company, which was listed on the 6th January 2005 (Share price 100p), and acquired its first business, Kinnerton, on 13th April 2005 for Â?32.2m, set out with a strategy to acquire, or make investments in, companies or businesses engaged primarily in the confectionery and snack foods or related markets.
Having experienced an interesting 5 years on AIM (Share price high 590p in March 2007) the company now consists of 3 brands; Kinnerton, Readifoods and Humdinger Foods. The latter two are part of the natural snacks side of the business and were both acquired in 2006. The preliminary numbers speak for themselves, with turnover up 11% to £131.9m and adjusted profit before tax* up 40% to £6.4m and adjusted diluted earnings per share were up 27% to 35.4p (Consensus 34.85p). Cash generated from operations was up 97% to £7m and helped to reduce net debt from £15.4m in 2009 to £11.1m. Growth of the company has been supported with the approval of a new 4 year bank facility (fully credit-approved, with legal documentation at advanced stage, and all material commercial terms agreed).
Development has continued apace on production capability, specifically at the York site, whilst everyday chocolate sales increased to almost one-third of Confectionery division’s revenue. Broker Shore Capital was very positive post the results reiterating their BUY stance with the results slightly ahead of their expectations , following a challenging 2008/2009. Speaking about the company’s facilities, they said “We were most impressed by the Fakenham facility, which we have visited. The company has also expanded its York confectionery site in the year.”
With the appointment of Roger Matthews (previously of Compass and Sainsburys) comes a great deal of experience in the consumer sector, and the addition of value lines has enabled Zetar to weather the market conditions quite successfully. This is backed up by good 2010/2011 figures for the first 11 weeks of the current financial year, with sales up a further 11% on 2009/2010 at £16.4m vs. £14.6m. It’s worth noting Roger Matthews, purchased 25,000 shares in February at 235p per share. Ian Blackburn, Chief Executive of Zetar Plc, said “We are confident that the building blocks are in place to realise our three year organic sales growth plan… encouragingly last…
