CVS Group Plc Board is recommending the payment of a final dividend of 8.0p per Ordinary share (2023: 7.5p). Subject to shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 20 November 2024, the dividend will be paid on 29 November 2024 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 1 November 2024. The ex-dividend date is 31 October 2024.
Other financial highlights include:
Revenue from continuing operations increased 9.9%, to £647.3m (2023: £588.9m)
Group like-for-like sales increased 2.9% (2023: 7.3%), below their stated ambition of 4%-8% due to a combination of softer demand given wider publicity around the veterinary sector and the continued cost of living pressures, the impact of the cyber incident announced on 8 April 2024, and disruption from the accelerated migration of their practice management system to the cloud
Underlying like-for-like sales growth was estimated to be 4.1% (unaudited) after excluding the impact of disruption from the cyber incident and cloud migration
Adjusted EBITDA growth of 4.7%, to £127.3m (2023: £121.6m), through acquisitions, a continued focus on the provision of high-quality care, and net Research and Development Expenditure Tax Credits of £12.8m (2023: £9.6m)
Profit before tax on continuing operations decreased by 37.1%, to £38.2m (2023: £60.7m) due to an increase in business combination costs, finance expense and depreciation from investments made, and £5.8m of exceptional costs in relation to the cyber incident, cloud migration and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) process
Statutory profit for the year decreased 84.7% to £6.4m (2023: £41.9m) after recognising a loss of £20.0m on disposal of the discontinued Netherlands and Republic of Ireland operations
Leverage increased to 1.54x (2023: 0.73x) as a result of the increased strategic capital and acquisition investment, comfortably within their stated guidance of <2.0x leverage
Operating cash conversion decreased 4.4ppts to 70.5% (2023: 74.9%) in line with their 70%+ guidance
Debt facilities successfully extended in January 2024 for a further year, with committed funds of £350m through to February 2028 with margin and covenants unchanged
