Customers Limited
Unit 2, 148 Chesterville Rd
Cheltenham VIC 3192
T 1300 305 600
F 1300 721 883 www.customersatm.com.au
Company Announcement ASX Limited 31 January 2012 1H2012 TRADING UPDATE (ASX: CUS): Customers Limited (Customers) has today provided an update on its current trading conditions and anticipated earnings for the 2012 financial year.
Based on the unaudited management accounts for the six months
ended 31 December 2011, the Company expects:
Total interim revenue of circa $64 million, compared with
$62.8 million for 1H11, and
Interim reported EBITDA of between $17.8 million and $18.4
million, compared with
$23.7 million for 1H11, comprising circa $21.5 million for
the core business and in the range of $3 million - $3.5
million loss on new revenue initiatives for 1H12.
The Convenience ATM business continues to be resilient.
However, the Company's earnings for the half year have been
impacted by the combination of continued significant
investment in support of new revenue streams, delayed
generation of revenue from the company's growth initiatives,
one-off costs within the business and delayed delivery of
targeted cost savings due to a high level of internal
operational activity.
The convenience ATM business will produce EBITDA for 1H12 in
the order of $21.5 million, including $1.5 million of one-off
costs.
Total transaction revenues for 1H12 were over 3% up on the
equivalent period last year. Total aggregate value
transactions for the six months to December 2011, off a
smaller ATM
base, were around 5% below the equivalent period last year.
As at 31 December 2011, the
Company had 5,558 terminals in its convenience fleet as
against 5,861 terminals as at 31
December 2010, primarily as a result of Customers exiting
selected non-economic sites, a heightened focus on
profitability in the procurement of new sites and transition
of selected sites to the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) managed
service agreement.
Encouragingly, monthly data produced by the Reserve Bank of
Australia demonstrates that total foreign ATM withdrawal
volumes nationally are growing as a percentage of total ATM
transactions, evident particularly since mid 2011.
Offsetting the decline in transaction volumes was a 3.2%
increase in gross margin per transaction.
$ | 1H2011 | 1H2012 | % Change |
Revenue per Transaction | 2.06 | 2.23 | 8.2% |
Rebates | 0.51 | 0.63 | 23.5% |
Gross Margin | 1.55 | 1.60 | 3.2% |
The decline in transactions compared with the previous corresponding period was credible given the poor retail climate, low consumer confidence and increase in prices.
Customers Limited ABN 62 009 582 781
During 1H12, the convenience ATM business experienced a
number of one-off/abnormal costs which reduced EBITDA by
around $1.5 million. These costs included:
employee redundancies and related costs,
professional fees for advice obtained with respect to a
potential control transaction, and
widescale one-off promotional activity.
Despite the one-off nature of these items, gaining
efficiencies across the Company's cost base remains a
fundamental priority for the Board and Management. To this
end, the Company has embarked on a program designed to
deliver ongoing cost savings throughout the business.
As flagged at the Company's most recent Annual General
Meeting, due to the high level of operational activity during
1H12, these cost savings are not anticipated to benefit the
business until 2013. The Company is targeting ongoing cost
reductions in the order of $2 million - $3 million per annum,
by improving efficiency across a range of key cost items.
Pleasingly, the core business continues to produce strong
free cash flow, assisting the Company to maintain a
conservative gearing ratio (senior debt) of well under 20%
despite ongoing investment in significant new revenue
initiatives.
The Company remains confident that it will generate an
acceptable long-term shareholder return from its new growth
initiatives, New Zealand ATM Services (NZATM) and financial
institutions/corporate outsourcing. The Company holds a
unique competitive advantage in the Australasian marketplace
that it is striving to fully maximise.
For 1H12, these initiatives are anticipated to derive a net
EBITDA loss in the range of $3 million to $3.5 million
(compared with a $1.3 million EBITDA loss in the
corresponding period). The quantum of this loss is in part a
result of the rollout of terminals for BOQ taking longer
than anticipated to commence during the half, ongoing
investment in other growth initiatives, and in the order of
$0.5 million in additional costs over the prior period
associated with NZATM.
To date Customers has invested approximately $6 million in
New Zealand, inclusive of ATM capex. It is expected that
Customers will move to full ownership within 12 months, at a
cost of a further $11 million, plus the capex associated with
expansion of NZATM's fleet.
The NZATM fleet now numbers 500 and is expected to reach 800
by the end of the financial year.
Whilst the Company does not expect transaction volumes to
ultimately reach the same level as those in Australia, its
modelling demonstrates that volumes and thus profits will
generate a healthy return on investment with a positive
contribution to EBITDA expected from FY13.
The Company's financial institutions and corporate
outsourcing contracts announced to date provide Customers
with the opportunity to continue to grow its market share in
the Australian ATM industry with a fee for service revenue
model that diversifies its traditional transaction based
model.
To date the Company has committed to spend in the order of
$10 million - $12 million in capex on these agreements.
Customers expects these agreements to offer, once fully
rolled out, attractive rates of return and opportunities for
future growth, with a positive contribution to EBITDA
expected from FY13.
Moving into 2H12, the Company is pleased with the speed and
progress of terminal rollouts for both BOQ and Coles Express
managed service agreements.
The current expectation of the Board is that full year
reported EBITDA for the year ending 30
June 2012 will be between 13% and 17% below the reported
EBITDA for the year ended 30
June 2011 of $44.2 million, assuming current trading
conditions continue without deterioration.
The Company anticipates total depreciation and amortisation
expense for the full year to be in the range of $23 million -
$24 million, driven by the substantially increased fleet size
inclusive of the outsourcing and NZATM initiatives. However,
depreciation and amortisation
attributable to the core business will reduce from the
previous corresponding period.
On 17 October 2011, Customers announced that it had held
discussions with a potential purchaser which may or may not
lead to an offer for the Company. While discussions in
respect of a potential control transaction are continuing,
they remain insufficiently advanced to warrant disclosure at
this time. Should these discussions progress to a point where
a transaction on acceptable terms to Customers is likely to
eventuate, the Company will advise the market in accordance
with its continuous disclosure obligations.
The indicative, non-binding proposal that Customers made for
the acquisition of another business, which was noted in the
Company's announcement on 17 October 2011, did not proceed.
The Company continues to evaluate additional acquisition
opportunities which will enhance long term shareholder value
as they arise.
The Company expects to release its interim results for the
six months ended 31 December
2011 on Tuesday 28 February 2012.
Rohan Martin, Manager of Corporate Affairs and Marketing
Customers Limited
Ph: 03 9090 4745
All numbers are preliminary and will ultimately be subject to
audit.
This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of securities laws of applicable jurisdictions. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "objectives", "outlook", "guidance" or other similar words, and include statements regarding certain plans, strategies and objectives of management and expected financial performance. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Customers, and its officers, employees, agents or associate. Actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from any projections and forward-looking statements and the assumptions on which those statements are based. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and Customers assumes no obligation to update such information.
distribué par | Ce noodl a été diffusé par Customers Limited. Il a été distribué par noodls dans son format d'origine et sans modification sur 2012-01-31 17:57:20 PM et restera accessible depuis ce lien permanent. Cette annonce est protégée par les règles du droit d'auteur et toute autre loi applicable, et son propriétaire est seul responsable de sa véracité et de son originalité. |
Documents associés | |
Trading Update_31 January |