BBA have increased their interim dividend increased by 5% to 4.2¢ reflecting continued confidence in the Group's future growth prospects and free cash generation.
Other financial highlights include:
Total Group underlying operating profit, on a pre IFRS 16 basis, grew 5.3% to $190.0 million (H1 2018: $180.5 million); Signature FBO network outperformed the US B&GA market
Proposed sale of Ontic to CVC for $1,365 million announced on 30 July 2019
Continuing operations:
o Signature
Organic revenue up 0.4% (Signature FBO up 1.0%) with new commercial initiatives contributing to outperformance against a strong prior year comparative
US B&GA market growth of 0.3% in the six months to June 2019
Underlying Signature FBO operating profit on a pre-IFRS 16 basis reduced 2.6% to $156.4 million (H1 2018: $160.5 million) in a flat H1 US B&GA market with reduced heavy jet traffic in our network
EPIC acquisition delivered $2.9 million operating profit for six months as expected, with card and network fuel benefits to come from H2 19 onwards
o Ontic
Underlying operating profit growth on a pre IFRS 16 basis increased to $31.7 million (H1 2018: $24.5 million), driven by good organic growth and the Firstmark acquisition
Further licence signed with Meggitt in the period
Firstmark acquisition integrating well and proceeding to plan
Discontinued operations:
o Engine Repair and Overhaul (ERO) delivered underlying operating profit performance of $18.8 million on a pre IFRS 16 basis (H1 2018: $13.4 million) through robust trading with the benefit of depreciation and amortisation suspension
Group statutory operating profit is up 21.7% at $156.0 million (H1 2018: $128.2 million) due to the adoption of IFRS 16 on 1 January 2019
Total Group free cashflow up 12.8% to $129.2 m (H1 2018: $114.5 million) highlighting inherently strong free cash flow generation
Leverage stable at 2.8x net debt/underlying EBITDA on a covenant basis, well within our target range of 2.5-3.0x, reflecting continued strong free cash flow generation funding Ontic licence investment in the period and our progressive dividend
Total Group ROIC on a pre IFRS 16 basis is flat at 11.4% (Dec 2018: 11.4%)
Underlying Total Group adjusted basic EPS (pre IFRS 16) decreased by 3% to 11.3¢ (2018: 11.7¢). Total Group basic EPS (pre IFRS 16) decreased by 43.1% to 3.7¢ (2018: 6.5¢) reflecting higher exceptional and other item charges
