Iceland - comment

Iceland received the required consent from bondholders to extend the deadline for releasing their fully audited numbers. As a reminder, Iceland is changing their accounting standard from FRS102 to IFRS with the associated additional work is the reason behind the delayed filing. Iceland will provide unedited FY23 accounts, prepared under FRS 102 in July, in line with their usual schedule.

More importantly, Iceland gave additional guidance for FY23 (24th March) results. EBITDA is now expected to be at the top end of their previously guided range of £110-120m with a cash figure better than the prior year's £155m. Separately, Iceland has signed their first long-term Power Purchase Agreement, with Octopus Energy. In total, Iceland has now purchased 60% of their expected energy requirements for FY24, which coupled with lower consumption and lower market prices, would lead to a c.£40m improvement in EBITDA vis-a-vis FY23, £10m more than previously advised. Iceland confirmed the recent Kantar data, which shows Iceland continues to trade very strongly, outperforming the market.