8 May 2018

Cambria Automobiles plc

("Cambria" or the "Group")

Unaudited Interim Results 2018

Cambria Automobiles plc (AIM: CAMB), the franchised motor retailer, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 28 February 2018, which show that the Group has continued to deliver on its Brand and property strategies. The Board remains confident that Cambria will maintain its momentum in the second half and deliver a financial performance in line with market expectations for the year as a whole.

Financial highlights:

·     Revenue reduced by 4.5% to £295.1m (H1 2017: £309.1m)

·     Underlying profit before tax down 14.3% at £4.8m (H1 2017: £5.6m)

·     Underlying earnings per share decreased 13.4% to 3.82p (H1 2017: 4.41p)

·     Underlying net profit margin of 1.63% (H1 2017: 1.8%)

·     Positive operational cash flows maintained, with a cash position of £16.1m (H1 2017: £17.2m) and net debt of £0.39m (H1 2017 net cash: £3.3m) following significant capital investment

·     Strong balance sheet with net assets of £53.20m (H1 2017: £45.86m)

·     Rolling twelve month return on equity* of 17.38% (H1 2017: 21.76%)

·     Interim dividend maintained at 0.25p (H1 2017: 0.25p)

Operational highlights:

·     New vehicle sales, were as expected given market softening, down 16.2% (like-for-like down 14.1%) with the reduced unit impact partially offset by an increase in average profit per unit as a result of improved portfolio mix

·     Used vehicle sales were slightly down 0.8% on a like-for-like basis although profit per unit increased by 7.3% to more than offset the small volume reduction.  Overall units were down 6.7% after the site closures which was more than offset by a 9.7% increase in profit per unit

·     Aftersales revenue increased by 6.1% on a like-for-like basis and 1.1% overall with accompanying gross profit improvement

·     Acquired trade and assets of the Bentley Essex and Kent businesses in January and relocated into newly refurbished facilities at the Group's existing Chelmsford and Tunbridge Wells sites

·     Addition of the high luxury Lamborghini franchise to the Group with a newly developed facility in Chelmsford

·     Group's first McLaren dealership opened in January 2018 in Hatfield, operating on the Group's major Hatfield development site

·     As planned, closure of the Group's two bodyshop operations, Alfa Romeo and Jeep in Chelmsford and Mazda and Honda in Tunbridge Wells, to facilitate the addition of Bentley in both locations and Lamborghini in Chelmsford

·     Swindon Jaguar Land Rover development progressing well ahead of anticipated occupation in July 2018

·     Hatfield Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and McLaren development progressing well for completion of Jaguar Land Rover in December 2018 and Aston Martin and McLaren in January 2019

* underlying profit after tax as a proportion of Average Shareholder's funds

Mark Lavery, Chief Executive of Cambria, said:

"I am pleased that the Group has delivered a solid financial performance in the first half which gives us confidence that we will maintain momentum in the second half and deliver a financial performance which is in line with current market expectations for the year as a whole. This is a notable achievement given the economic backdrop, consumer uncertainty, diesel demonisation and cost pressures.  The continued pressure in the new car market was predictable and we highlighted this in our preliminary results last year.  I am pleased with the improvements in both the used car and aftersales departments that have partially offset the pressure seen in new cars.     

"We have made excellent progress with the Group's franchising strategy, adding two Bentley dealerships, one Lamborghini dealership and one McLaren dealership in the period.   

"Aside from the property refurbishments to facilitate the addition of the four newly opened High Luxury businesses, we have also made positive strides with the major property projects underway in Swindon for Jaguar Land Rover and at Hatfield for Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and McLaren. The developments are progressing well and, once completed, will enhance our already excellent site portfolio and brand representation whilst supporting the Group's long term trading prospects. The Board remains confident that Cambria, with its strong balance sheet and superior stable of brands, will maintain its momentum in the second half and deliver a financial performance in line with current market expectations."

Enquiries:

About Cambria - www.cambriaautomobilesplc.com

Cambria Automobiles ("Cambria") was established in 2006 and has built a balanced portfolio of high luxury, premium and volume car dealerships, representing major brands across the UK. The Group's businesses are autonomous and trade under local brand names, including County Motor Works, Dees, Doves, Grange, Invicta, Motorparks and Pure Triumph.

The Group's strategy is to complement its existing franchise and brand portfolio by acquiring earnings enhancing operations, using its strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to capital allocation.

Cambria's medium term ambition is to create a £1 billion turnover business with a balanced Brand portfolio producing attractive returns on capital.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW

Introduction

I am pleased to report another solid set of results, delivering underlying profit before tax of £4.8m, despite the difficult new car market and uncertain consumer outlook. The results in the first half of our 2018 financial year have shown sustained improvement in our used car and aftersales businesses which have helped to partially offset the reduced profitability in the new car department. 

The Group has made significant progress in its franchising activity by adding Bentley, Lamborghini and McLaren to the brands that the Group represents.  It has also made solid progress with the major property developments being undertaken and the combination of the new franchises and conclusion of these developments will create an enhanced foundation for the Group in the coming years.  In order to deliver the new franchises, the Group has closed one Honda dealership, one Alfa Romeo and Jeep dealership, two bodyshop operations and, on 30 April 2018 (post period end), closed one Mazda dealership in Tunbridge Wells to facilitate the addition of another dealership for a Brand already represented by the Group which we expect to open in August 2018.  These closures have impacted revenue and gross profit generation from those businesses in the period.

Since the Group's inception in 2006, it has remained focused on driving growth for shareholders, taking the original £10.8m of share capital, with no further equity raised subsequently and reinvesting the earnings in property and franchises. Despite the overall reduction in profitability in this period, the Group has still delivered another strong return on shareholders' funds which was 17.38% for the rolling twelve month period.

Financial highlights:

*Underlying numbers exclude non-recurring expense of £0.3m in 2018 relating to the closure of businesses for the redevelopment and refranchising of sites.  There were non-recurring expenses of £0.1m in 2017 relating to the Swindon site closure

Underlying profit before tax was down 14.3% to £4.8m (H1 2017: £5.6m) with the Group's net profit margin at 1.63%. The segmental analysis between departments highlights that the new car department attributed £1.5m of the gross profit reduction with used cars and aftersales partially offsetting the reduction with a £0.6m combined improvement.  Removing the impact of the closed businesses and newly opened businesses gives a like-for-like underlying profit before tax of £5.4m (H1 2017: £5.8m).

Underlying operating profit decreased 8.6% to £5.3m (H1 2017: £5.8m), which resulted in an operating margin of 1.8% (H1 2017: 1.88%). Underlying earnings per share were 3.82p (H1 2017: 4.41p).  

Gross profit decreased by 2.5% to £35.2m (H1 2017: £36.1m) with the new car division down £1.5m; used cars up £0.2m and aftersales up £0.4m.  With the mix shifting away from new cars which operate at a lower margin, the overall gross profit margin across the Group showed a modest increase over the previous period, as expected, to 11.9% (H1 2017: 11.7%). 

The Board considered the expenses associated with the business closures, acquisition fees and refranchising activity of £0.3m (H1 2017: £0.1m) to be non-recurring.    

Net finance expenses for the period increased to £0.46m (H1 2017: £0.24m), partly due to the increased level of borrowing against the enhanced property assets and partly as a result of the increased consignment stock costs resulting from the reduced new car sales, the Board identified this during the period and took action to reduce consignment stock levels appropriately.  The tax charge for the period of £0.9m represents an effective tax rate of 20.37% (H1 2017: 20.88%). 

Balance sheet

Cambria has a robust balance sheet with net assets of £53.2m (H1 2017: £45.8m), underpinned by £53.6m of freehold and long leasehold property.   

The Group had a net debt position as at 28 February 2018 of £0.4m (H1 2017, net cash: £3.3m), reflecting gross debt of £16.5m (H1 2017: £13.95m) and the cash position of £16.1m (H1 2017: £17.3m).

Cash flow

Operating cash generation continues to be a key strength of the business and during the period the Group generated an operating cash inflow of £5.8m (H1 2017: £8.0m).

As a Group, Cambria is committed to investing in its dealerships to increase capacity, comply with manufacturer brand standards and enhance the facilities for guests and associates.  During the period there has been £11.5m of total capital expenditure incurred and a number of other development projects initiated.  The Swindon Jaguar Land Rover property development has incurred £2.9m of costs during the period and has a further £3m expected outlay to completion of the property project during H2.  The Hatfield property development has incurred £6m in H1 including the land purchase.  It is estimated that there will be £6m incurred in H2 with the remaining £5m property investment in the 2019 financial year.  The two Bentley dealerships and Lamborghini dealership refurbishments incurred £1.1m in the period. 

During the period the Group completed the refinancing of its banking facilities, fully repaying its previously drawn term loan, with a new £40m, five year Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF").  The structure of the revised RCF gives flexibility to the Group when looking at its funding requirements through its capital investment cycle. There are no fixed capital repayments due under the facility.  A dividend of £0.75m, relating to the 2017 financial year, was paid in January 2018 following approval at the Annual General Meeting.

The total net cash outflow for the period was £6.9m (H1 2017: outflow £2.6m). 

Dividend

The Board is pleased to declare an interim dividend of 0.25p per share (H1 2017: 0.25p per share).  The dividend will be payable on 15 June 2018 to those shareholders on the register on 18 May 2018.  The Board intends to maintain last year's dividend for the full financial year. 

Acquisitions and new dealerships

Cambria's ongoing strategy is to build on the favourable mix of its brand portfolio and maintain a good balance of high luxury, premium and volume brands. It has made good progress over the past four years in delivering on this strategy by acquiring businesses and opening dealerships as follows:

·     Barnet Jaguar Land Rover in July 2014

·     Swindon Land Rover in April 2015

·     Welwyn Garden City Land Rover in January 2016

·     Aston Martin Birmingham in May 2016

·     Woodford Jaguar Land Rover in July 2016

·     Bentley in Essex and Kent in January 2018

·     McLaren in Hatfield in January 2018

·     Lamborghini in Chelmsford in April 2018

Capital commitments

The major new build developments at Swindon for Jaguar Land Rover and Hatfield for Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and McLaren are making good progress.  The delays to the start of both projects arose from obtaining final planning condition discharges from the environment agency at Swindon and Archaeology officer at Hatfield.  We now anticipate that Swindon will be complete in July 2018 and Hatfield will be ready for the Jaguar Land Rover dealership occupation in December 2018 and for Aston Martin and McLaren in January 2019.  During the remainder of the 2018 financial year there is an expected £3m of capital to be invested in the property for Swindon and £6m for the Hatfield property in FY2018 and £5m in FY2019.  We expect the refurbishment at Tunbridge Wells to be c.£0.6m in FY2018.  The Birmingham Aston Martin development is anticipated to be c.£5m and that commitment will span the 2018 and 2019 financial years.  The Group therefore has approximately £20m of capital commitment to property projects.

Business closures

During the period the Group concluded the closure of its Honda dealership in Tunbridge Wells and its Alfa Romeo and Jeep business in Chelmsford.  Located at both of these sites were also bodyshops that needed to close to create scope for the new franchises at both locations.  Post period end, the Group has closed the Mazda dealership in Tunbridge Wells.  The closure of these businesses has removed revenue and gross profit during the period.

Operations

New vehicles sales

New vehicle revenue decreased by 6.4% to £134.3m (H1 2017: £143.5m) with total new vehicle sales volume down 16.2%. The new vehicle gross profit margin was 7.2% (H1 2017: 7.8%) and there was a £1.5m reduction in gross profit.  The average profit per unit sold increased by 2.4%, a combination of like-for-like increase and strengthening brand portfolio.  On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of the closed businesses and the relatively small number of cars sold in the period by the new businesses due to timing of openings, our new volumes reduced by 14.1% with gross profit reducing by £1.3m as profit per unit increased by 1.9% on a like-for-like basis.

The Group's sale of new vehicles to private individuals was 18.6% lower year-on-year at 3,720 units, showing the volume reduction that we anticipated.  New commercial vehicle sales increased by 45.6% to 498 units in the period.  New fleet vehicle sales decreased by 40% to 260 units.

The new car volume reduction that has been experienced comes against not only a backdrop of record registration numbers in the previous financial year but also a very challenging and uncertain consumer outlook which is impacting the new car market significantly.  

Used vehicle sales

We have delivered another good performance in used vehicle sales.  Revenues reduced by 4% to £131.6m (H1 2017: £137.1m) whilst the number of units sold decreased by 6.7% primarily as a result of the closure of Swindon Motor Park which was a high volume used car operation and traded for the first four months of last year.  The gross profit on used vehicles increased by 1.9% to £11.8m (H1 2017: £11.6m), with the profit per unit sold increasing by 9.7%.  On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of the site closures and new additions, our used volumes decreased 0.8% but was more than offset by a profit per unit increase of 7.3%.

We have continued our focused strategy in the used car department to increase the efficiency with which we source, prepare and market our used vehicles in order to drive the Group's Velocity trading principles.  This has produced strong results, increasing the profitability of the used car department from an already strong base.  During the period, this strategy continued to deliver a strong 12 month rolling return on used car investment* of 129%.   

* gross profit from used car operation over 12 months as a proportion of average stock levels for the year

Aftersales

Aftersales revenue increased by 1.1% year on year to £35.2m (H1 2017: £34.8m), and the related gross profit increased to £13.7m (H1 2017: £13.3m).  Like-for-like aftersales revenue was 6.1% higher year on year, with gross profit up £1m.  The aftersales department contributed 38.9% of the Group's overall gross profit.

Guest experience

The Group continues to review its processes for ensuring that it engages with all Guests to maximise the interaction opportunities through the Group's award winning and recognised approach to its digital Guest experience strategy.  The Group continues to invest in its ability to facilitate Guest interaction through digital tools with the launch of its new lead handling tool, "Engagement Pro".  Within the aftersales environment the Group has a Guest Relationship Management programme which involves the sale of our Warranty 4 Life product, service plans and delivery of service and MOT reminders in a structured manner, utilising all forms of digital media and traditional communication methods.

Outlook

The Board remains cautious about the new car market.  The pressures around new car volumes have been well publicised and, when combined with consumer uncertainty, these factors create pressure on margins and volumes.  The UK government's clean air policy has unsettled the sale of cars powered by diesel engines and this represents a significant proportion of the cars sold in the UK by a number of our Brand partners. The SMMT March registration data showed a 15.7% reduction year on year taking the three month YTD registrations figure to be down 12.4% with diesel sales down 33.3% year on year. 

The Group has taken action in the used car and aftersales departments that have offset some of the gross profit reduction from new car sales. It has also added exciting new franchises that will make a positive and potentially significant contribution to earnings once established in their respective locations.

Despite an environment where there is indirect expense inflation as a result of increases in business rates, pension contributions, the apprentice levy, debit and credit card charges, the Group is taking proactive steps to mitigate any cost increases.

The continued focus on delivering improvements from the Group's new franchises and completion of the property projects will lay further solid foundations for growth.  In addition, the revised banking facilities give the Group the flexibility in its property projects and enable it to review acquisition opportunities as they arise.  Cambria has an experienced management team with a strong track record and remains focused on delivering value for its associates, brand partners, guests and shareholders.  As a result of the hard work undertaken to further enhance the Group's property portfolio and brand mix over the period, the Board remains confident that Cambria will maintain its momentum in the second half and deliver a financial performance in line with market expectations for the year as a whole.

Mark Lavery

Chief Executive

8 May 2018

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 28 February 2018

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the six months ended 28 February 2018

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

as at 28 February 2018

Consolidated Cash flow statement

for the six months ended 28 February 2018

Notes

Cambria Automobiles plc is a company which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and is incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom.  The address of the registered office is Swindon Motor Park, Dorcan Way, Swindon, SN3 3RA.  The registered number of the company is 05754547.

These interim financial statements as at and for the six months ended 28 February 2018 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (together referred to as the "Group") and have been prepared in accordance with Adopted International Financial Reporting Standards as Adopted by the EU ("Adopted IFRS").

The financial statements for the period ended 28 February 2018 have neither been audited nor reviewed by the auditors.  The financial information for the year ended 31 August 2017 has been based on information in the audited financial statements for that period. 

2             Accounting policies

The Group's principal activity is the sale and servicing of motor vehicles and the provision of ancillary services.

The accounting policies adopted in this interim financial report are consistent with the Group's financial report for the year ended 31 August 2017 and can be found on our website:

 www.cambriaautomobilesplc.com.

3             Operating Segments

Segmental reporting

The Group complies with IFRS 8 'Operating Segments' which determines and presents operating segments based on information presented to the Groups Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM"), the Chief Executive Officer.  The Group is operated and managed on a Dealership by Dealership basis.  The CODM receives information both on a dealership basis and by revenue stream (New, Used, Aftersales). Given the number of dealerships, it was deemed most appropriate to present the information by revenue stream for the purposes of segmental analysis.

The CODM reviews the performance of the business in terms of both net profit before tax and EBITDA, as such the following table shows a reconciliation of EBITDA to the Profit before tax.

4             Earnings per share

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to equity shareholders by the number of ordinary shares in issue in the period.  There is one class of ordinary share with 100,000,000 shares in issue.

The share options in issue are not dilutive because the performance conditions are not yet met.  Details of the options in issue are contained within the Annual Report to 31 August 2015.

5             Acquisitions

Effect of Acquisitions in the period ended 28 February 2018

On 3 January 2018, the Group acquired the trade and assets of the Bentley dealership in Essex from Jardine Motor Group for a total cash consideration of £788,811.  Transactions fees of £21,736 have been expensed through operating expenses in the period. 

6             Taxation

The tax charge for the six months ended 28 February 2018 has been provided at the effective rate of 20.37% (H1 2017: 20.87%).