1st Apr 2015 07:00
SnackTime PLC
("SnackTime" or the "Company")
Trading update
During the last financial year, SnackTime has undergone a further period of change with the securing of £2.3m in two tranches of new equity investment from Versatel Company Limited and reorganisation throughout the Group's trading operations. The Board has now begun to feel a new level of momentum in the organisation and has a clear focus in 2015 of streamlining costs, investing in technology, creating exclusive sales concepts and providing outstanding customer service.
It has been a challenging year for the Company, including a protracted capital raising and bank negotiation, and the Board expects the EBITDA for the year to 31 March 2015 to be reduced to £550k (2014: £1.1m) on sales of £16.7m (2014: £18.8m). The reduction in the William Hill contract at Drinkmaster, a decreasing vending estate and pressure on wholesale revenues have been major contributing factors. The results for the year ended 31 March 2015 will also include exceptional items of approximately £650k; this represents the costs of last November's equity issue and bank negotiation, personnel reductions and other reorganisation costs.
Since last April, the Company has repaid £1.154m of bank borrowing. The Company's obligations in the 9 months to 31 December 2015 are to repay a further £240k. The EBITDA figure, which is expected to be reported for the year ended 31 March 2015, has resulted in a minor breach retrospectively of the EBITDA/Interest cover covenant. The Board is in discussions with its bankers who remain supportive of the Company and its revised business strategy. As part of its continuing dialogue, the Company's bankers have now agreed to waive the retrospective breach in addition to suspending future covenant testing until September 2015.
The Company is proposing to change its financial year end to 31 December with effect from 31 December 2015. In the short term, the Company will report audited final results for the year ended 31 March 2015, unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 September 2015 and audited final results for the nine months to 31 December 2015.
The combination of the new management team led by CEO Mark Stone who was appointed on 2 January 2015 and the full backing of our strong international partner Uvenco both point towards a very positive and exciting future for SnackTime. The solid foundations we have been building in early 2015 have already started to bring benefits for our immediate future. We have secured new contracts in our vending division worth £2.5 million in operated revenue over a 5 year period which will commence in June 2015, Drinkmaster is enjoying the challenges of delivering for its new 'Sealcup' product and our Snack in the Box franchise network continues to grow on a monthly basis.
The Company will provide a further trading update at the time of the announcement of its annual results.
For further information:-
SnackTime PLC 020 8879 8300
Jeremy Hamer, Chairman
Tim James, CFO
Westhouse Securities Limited 020 7601 6100
Tom Griffiths
Richard Johnson
Related Shares:
Uvenco Uk