Ibstock Plc Interim Results Statement – period 6 months to 30th June 2016

Ibstock Plc ('Ibstock' or the 'Group'), a leading manufacturer of clay bricks and concrete products with operations in the United Kingdom and the United States, announces its unaudited results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2016.

Statutory results for the period

Group revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2016 was £210.0 million (1H 2015: £148.9 million includes four months’ trading results only)
Profit before taxation for the period of £37.9 million (1H 2015: £77.0 million including net exceptional benefits of £51.8 million, excluding these gives a comparable profit before taxation of £25.2 million)
Earnings per share of 7.4p (1H 2015: 31.8p including net exceptional benefits and before increase in weighted average number of shares arising from pre-IPO share reorganisation)
Interim dividend of 2.4p per share

Adjusted results for the period

Half year to 30 June	2016	2015	Change
Revenue	£210.0m	£203.4m	+3.3%
Adjusted EBITDA¹	£55.6m	£51.8m	+7.3%
Adjusted EPS²	8.2 pence

The adjusted results for H1 2015 use the full six-month trading period as comparative information, as set out in Note 4.

Financial Highlights

Trading for the first half in line with expectations set at the AGM in May
Group revenue up 3.3% to £210.0 million
Adjusted EBITDA up 7.3% to £55.6 million
Net debt to EBITDA³remains at 1.4x after £21 million of capex on major projects
Return on capital employed⁴remains at 20%

Operational Highlights

UK Clay business sees benefits of good activity levels from new build housing sector more than offset by previously announced brick destocking by UK merchants/distributors
Concrete products have performed well, particularly in the domestic landscaping RMI sector
Major UK capital projects progressing to schedule
Unusually mild winter weather in the US gave Glen-Gery a strong start to the year, which has been maintained
Following the EU Referendum, like-for-like July brick volumes at the same levels as 2015

Wayne Sheppard, Chief Executive Officer of Ibstock Plc, commented: “I am pleased to report another robust profit and cash generation performance by Ibstock, combined with excellent progress with our major UK investment projects.”

“The EU Referendum result has added uncertainty to our outlook but, in advance of the important autumn period for new home sales, it remains too early to judge its full impact. It is reassuring however that, to date, current trading continues at normal seasonal levels. Contingency plans will enable us to balance production with sales volumes in the remainder of the year as necessary.”

“The fundamentals supporting the UK housing market remain in place. The sector continues to receive focused government support, mortgage availability is good and there remains an undersupply of new homes. Our businesses are well prepared for the challenges and opportunities that our markets may present and we look to the future with confidence.”

Results presentation

Ibstock is holding a presentation to analysts at 0900 today at the offices of UBS, 1 Finsbury Avenue, London EC2M 2PP. Analysts wishing to attend should contact ibstock@citigatedr.co.uk to register.

An archived version of today’s webcast analyst presentation is available here.

Enquiries

Ibstock (enquiries via Citigate Dewe Rogerson)
Citigate Dewe Rogerson Kevin Smith Nick Hayns	020 7638 9571

¹ Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation, and excludes exceptional items as set out in Note 6. This is reconciled on the face of the consolidated income statement.
² Adjusted EPS is defined as the basic earnings per share adjusted for exceptional items, amortisation and depreciation arising on fair value adjustments, as set out in Note 8.
³ Net debt is defined as the sum of cash and total borrowings. The Net debt to EBITDA multiple is calculated using annualised adjusted EBITDA, calculated using the 2H 2015 and 1H 2016 results.
⁴ Return on capital employed is defined as the 12 month rolling adjusted EBITDA (defined above) adding back depreciation pre fair value uplift, as a proportion of capital employed (defined as net debt plus equity)

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