Simonds Farsons Cisk plc - Updated Financial Analysis Summary

On 12 July 2023, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc published an updated Financial Analysis Summary. The main highlights of the projected financial performance and position of Farsons for the 2023/24 financial year are as follows:

• Revenues are expected to grow by a further 9.2% to a record of €129.1 million. Farsons expects a material pickup in business activity across all business streams.
• EBITDA is anticipated to climb by 5.0% to €27.7 million (2022/23: € 26.4 million), which would also be a new record high. Nonetheless, the EBITDA margin is anticipated to contract to 21.4% compared to 22.3% last year, principally reflecting higher selling and distribution costs and increased general administrative expenses.
• Finance costs are anticipated to remain virtually unchanged at €1.37 million. As such, the interest cover is anticipated to improve further to 20.2 times compared to 19.3 in the previous financial year.

• In terms of financial position, total assets are expected to increase by 2% to €219.4 million while total liabilities are forecasted to drop by 7.4% to €70.3 million. As a result, shareholders’ funds are projected to strengthen by a further 7.1% to €149.1 million.
• Total debt is projected to drop by 9.2% (or €3 million) to €30.3 million, when including €7.2 million in lease liabilities. The gearing ratio (calculated as total debt divided by total debt plus equity) is anticipated to ease to 16.9% from 19.4% as at the end of January 2023. In view of the reduction in indebtedness as well as improvement in EBITDA, the net debt to EBITDA multiple is expected to strengthen to 0.68 times (FY2022/23: 0.89 times).