Filta Group Holdings plc (LON:FLTA), a market-leading commercial kitchen services provider, has announced its unaudited Interim Results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2021.

Financial Summary

·      Group Revenue increased 17% to £9.7m (H1 2020:  £8.3m, H2 2020: £8.1m)

·      Gross profit, up in line with increased trading levels, £3.9m (H1 2020: £3.4m, H2 2020: £3.5m)

·      Adjusted EBITDA* increased by 500% to £1.3m (H1 2020: £0.2m, H2 2020: £0.9m)

·      Cash inflow from operations doubled to £1.0m (H1 2020: £0.5m)

·      Net debt reduced by 50% to £0.8m (31 December 2020: £1.6m)

·      Cash balance of £4.2m (31 December 2020: £4.2m)

·      Basic loss per share of 0.19p (2020: loss of 3.11p)

·      Adjusted EPS** 3.19p (H1 2020: loss of 0.13p)

·      The Board considers it would be prudent not to pay an interim dividend and to allow the trading recovery to continue to gather momentum. Nonetheless, if the current trading trend carries on through the remainder of the year, the Board expects to resume the payment of a final dividend.

Operational Highlights

·      Strong performance through H1, despite ongoing lockdowns, with Q2 revenues and gross profit  growing 29% and 25%, respectively, versus Q1

·      8 new franchise sales in the period, including a first in France

·      7 franchise resales as the Company continues to upgrade its network to underpin future growth

·      13 new Mobile Filtration Units (“MFUs”) sales, the principal driver of Fryer Management recurring revenue, added in the period and in line with pre COVID-19 demand

·      The new Cyclone Grease Recovery Unit (“GRU”), introduced to the market in Q4 2020, has gained significant traction, resulting in 60% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth in H1

·      Initiatives to drive innovation, efficiency and sustainability are accelerating the momentum of the business

*Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, acquisition related costs and share based payment expense.

**Adjusted EPS are earnings per share before depreciation and amortisation, share based payment expense and non-recurring items.

Jason Sayers, CEO of Filta Group, commented:

“We delivered strong performance for the first half of the year, with underlying market fundamentals continuing to improve in our primary markets of North America, the UK and mainland Europe.

“In the US, we have seen impressive growth, while our larger customers, which include sports stadia and universities, remain on track to fully reopen during the third quarter of the year. The UK market has benefitted from the relaxation of restrictions and we have worked hard to develop new business opportunities in Europe, demonstrated by the first franchisee sale in France. We believe these and further potential opportunities will put us in good stead for when restrictions across Europe relax and trading returns to more normalised pre-COVID levels.

“With rising vaccination rates and the continued reopening of hospitality and leisure markets, we anticipate that our customers will experience increased consumer demand, allowing us to focus our efforts on capturing these growth opportunities. Internally, and in conjunction with our major customers, we have targeted bringing new initiatives to the market that will allow us to continue supporting their needs whilst providing us additional avenues for growth. In particular, we are committed to leading the way in addressing sustainability issues and in providing more cost effective and efficient solutions with innovations that are already generating significant customer interest.

“We are carrying good momentum into the second half of the year and, although we are mindful of continuing risks to the economic recovery in the countries in which we operate, Filta is developing initiatives focused on growing the core business and addressing one of the key industry concerns of sustainability. We are excited about the potential in our business pipeline and believe that we are well placed to deliver attractive growth and shareholder returns.”

Management will host a presentation for analysts today at 3pm (UK). For further details please email [email protected].

On Thursday 16 September at 1pm (UK), the Company will host a presentation and Q&A session for private investors on the Investor Meet Company platform. Non-subscribers to Investor Meet Company can sign up to join the presentation via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/filta-group-holdings-plc/register-investor.