As a consequence of the good progress achieved, the NWF Group's cash generation, and confidence in the Group's resilience and future prospects, the Board is recommending a final dividend of 5.9p per share, to be paid to shareholders on 8 December 2020 (2019: 5.6p) giving a total dividend of 6.9p per share (2019: 6.6p), a 4.5% increase on the prior year.
Other financial highlights include:
• Sustained delivery throughout the year, revenue growth with increased activity levels in all divisions.
• Market share gains in Fuels and Feeds and solid operational performance in Food.
• Three Fuels acquisitions completed and successfully integrated during the year in line with our strategy, increasing the scale of the business by over 20%.
• Food's new 240,000ft warehouse now fully racked increasing our total storage capacity by 35% to 135,000 pallets, underpinned by long-term customer contracts.
• Significant outperformance in Fuels as a result of an unprecedented fall in the oil price, and a significant increase in domestic demand during lockdown delivered one-off gains.
• Swift and effective response to Covid-19:
• All divisions have remained open and operational, providing essential services.
• Effective safe working practices implemented, enabling an efficient response to increased demand.
• High service levels maintained.
• No Government support utilised and no staff furloughed.
• Balance sheet remains in a strong position with leverage at 0.7x, after having invested £7.9m in acquisitions and expansion..
