LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Distribution and outsourcing Group Bunzl plc (BZLFY.PK, BNZL.L) reported Monday that its fiscal 2020 profit before income tax climbed 22.6 percent to 555.7 million pounds from 453.3 million pounds a year ago. Basic earnings per share were 128.8 pence, up from 104.8 pence a year ago.
Adjusted profit before income tax was 715.6 million pounds, compared to 578.2 million pounds last year. Adjusted earnings per share were 164.9 pence, compared to 132.2 pence last year.
Adjusted operating profit grew 19.1 percent to 778.4 million pounds from 653.3 million pounds last year.
Revenue for the increased 8.4 percent to 10.11 billion pounds from 9.33 billion pounds last year. On a constant currency basis, revenues increased 9.4 percent.
Further, the Board is recommending a final dividend of 38.3 pence, 7 percent higher than the prior year, resulting in a full year dividend of 54.1p. This represents a 5.5 percent increase compared to the 2019 total dividend.
Looking ahead, Frank van Zanten, Chief Executive Officer of Bunzl, said, 'Overall in 2021 we expect robust revenue growth over the prior year at constant exchange rates, after excluding larger Covid-19 related orders which we do not expect to repeat. We anticipate that the recovery in sales of other products, as restrictions ease, will broadly offset the decline of smaller Covid-19 related orders, with recent acquisitions making an increasing contribution to the Group's performance.'
Separately, Bunzl announces that it has recently completed three further acquisitions. In January, the company acquired Deliver Net, a healthcare distributor to care home groups in the UK, with 2020 revenue of 20 million pounds.
In February, the company completed the acquisition of Disposable Discounter, an online distributor of foodservice disposable products to a highly fragmented customer base. Bunzl also completed the acquisition of Pinnacle, a leading distributor of cleaning & hygiene in Saskatchewan, Canada, in February.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2021 AFX News
