Boparan - call from IR
All,
- We have had the honour of a courtesy call from Peter Towner, treasury and IR. The company seems to be looking to gather support for its bonds in the market. Or perhaps its the incredulity that permeated our all too public questions on the call.
- Peter was only able to repeat, but not to further substantiate:
- the company’s claims that it will earn EBITDA of 3.5-4% in its Poultry Division this year.
- the cost improvements in the Bakery Division. According to Peter, at Fox’s “there was an amazing amity of fat”. But he had neither figures nor detail.
- Vs. our base case of EBITDA of £100m in 2020 (July. year end):
- An annual average of 3.5-4% of EBITDA in the Poultry division would represent an additional £17m of EBITDA,
- Continued EBITDA of ~£8m per quarter in the Bakery division would represent an additional £6m of EBITDA.
- Together both improvements would return Boparan into refinanceable territory and a significant share of the market seems to take these predictions at face value, as bonds have moved from under 60p/£ to 75p/£ in the wake of last results.
- We will try to have a follow-up call on Christmas trading in the next days.
Wolfgang