CHURCHILL CHINA plc

("Churchill" or the "Company" or the "Group")

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

For the year ended 31 December 2021

Strong demand delivers sustainable market share growth

Churchill China plc (AIM: CHH), the manufacturer of innovative performance ceramic products serving hospitality markets worldwide, is pleased to announce its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Key Highlights:

Financial

·    Operating profit before exceptional items £6.1m (2020: £0.9m)

·    Profit before exceptional items and tax £6.0m (2020: £0.8m)

·    Reported profit before tax after exceptional items £6.0m (2020: £0.1m)

·    Adjusted* basic earnings per share 37.8p (2020: 6.5p)

·    Basic earnings per share 37.8p (2020: 1.0p)

·    Re-instated final dividend of 17.3p per share (2020: nil)

·    Total dividend for the year 24.0p (2020: nil)

·    Net cash and deposits of £19.0m (2020: £14.0m)

·    Cash generated from operations £10.6m (2020: £1.8m)

o  Working capital controlled as revenues grow

Business

·    Total revenues £60.8m (2020: £36.4m)

·    Strong performance following lifting of COVID restrictions

o  Group H2:  +111% on 2020, +4% on 2019

o  Hospitality H2: +132% on 2020, +7% on 2019

·    Continued market share gains across key markets

·    Strong demand from customers and end users

·    Input cost rises offset by sustainable sales price increases

·    Further investment in UK manufacturing

·    Continued progress on implementation of strategic plans

Alan McWalter, Chairman of Churchill China, commented:

"The second half of 2021 saw a strong recovery in our sales to the Hospitality market such that the full year results are ahead of our expectations. We continue to benefit from record levels of demand and, while we are mindful of the potential impact of external factors on our markets and manufacturing operations, we remain confident in our ability to deliver an improved performance in 2022."

An online meeting for analysts will be held at 10.00am today 21 April 2022. Analysts who require further details should contact Buchanan at [email protected] or telephone 020 7466 5000. 

For further information, please contact:

*Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated after the adjusting for the post tax effect of exceptional items.

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

Introduction

I am pleased to report that Churchill's trading performance has continued to improve with strong growth in orders from all our markets and progress on improving our ability to satisfy this demand efficiently following the disruption of COVID. The plans we implemented over the last two years have allowed us to improve our competitive position and also to respond to the impact of the changes to the business environment later in 2021. We continue to make progress against our long term plans.

Our core strategy is to build our worldwide market share for the long term and market conditions currently give us an opportunity to accelerate this growth. The acquisition of market share is normally the most difficult element of our strategy to deliver as we operate in a market where customers change suppliers infrequently. Our decision to maintain a higher level of production during 2020 and to scale this up in the second half of 2021 has allowed us to take and retain an increased share of recovering Hospitality markets in both the UK and overseas.  

The sharp increase in production output required to satisfy demand, together with elevated levels of input price inflation, have in the short term constrained the improvement in overall business performance. However, we have still made satisfactory progress, exceeding our expectations for the year. 

Current revenue performance is strong and at levels well ahead of comparable periods. We believe that we continue to gain sustainable market share and provide a best in class service to our customers, maintaining deliveries to a market generally experiencing long lead times.

Financial Review

Total revenues rose to £60.8m (2020: £36.4m) as the effects of COVID-related market restrictions were reduced through the year. As a comparison H2 sales were higher than those achieved in the comparable period in 2019. Growth has continued into the first months of 2022. Ceramics revenues were £55.6m (2020: £33.1m). External revenue from Materials was £5.2m (2020: £3.3m). UK revenues increased by £10.5m to £24.4m (2020: £13.9m). Export revenues also grew, reaching £36.4m for the year (2020: £22.5m).

Overall gross margins were lower than in previous periods. Reduced output levels in the first half of the year were followed by higher costs as output and manpower levels increased quickly and input prices for materials and energy rose. We expect to see an improvement in efficiency across 2022. Our strong competitive position has allowed us to pass on higher input cost levels through increased prices while continuing to offer customers a market leading service.

Operating profit before exceptional items rose to £6.1m (2020: £0.9m). Overhead cost levels continued to be carefully managed, supporting strategic developments and maintaining our forward capability. Operating profit margins before exceptional items were 10.1% (2020: 2.5%).

Profit before exceptional items and income tax was £6.0m (2020: £0.8m) with the increase entirely reflecting improved operating profit.

The reported tax charge in the period includes the requirement to re-state the deferred tax balances to reflect the increase in Corporation Tax rates to 25% in 2023.

Adjusted basic earnings per share before exceptional items was 37.8p (2020: 6.5p).

Reported profit after exceptional items before tax was £6.0m (2020: £0.1m).

Basic earnings per share, after exceptional items, was 37.8p (2020: 1.0p)

Cash generation continues to be a strength of the business, with operating profit levels of £6.1m (2020: £0.2m) being substantially exceeded by cash generation of £10.6m (2020 £1.8m). We had anticipated a requirement to fund additional working capital levels as the business recovered during the second half of the year but delivered an improved position, aided by a reduction in inventory levels as revenues grew ahead of output. Capital expenditure increased to £3.7m (2020: £2.4m) further details of which are set out below. We expect to increase our rate of investment in 2022 to support investments targeting our energy footprint, additional value added product capacity and improved productivity. Cash and deposits at the start of the year were £14.0m and had increased to £19.0m by the year end.

Our record of cash generation and level of reserves allow us to accelerate investment where we believe it will support the development of the business. We continue to enjoy a strong, ungeared, balance sheet with net assets of £42.7m. Our assets are largely tangible and also give us a high degree of short term liquidity, if required.

Dividend

Following the re-instatement of dividend payments in September 2021 we are pleased to propose a final dividend of 17.3p (2020: nil) per ordinary share. This gives a total for the year of 24.0p (2020: nil) per ordinary share. This dividend will be payable on 27 June 2022 to shareholders on the register on 31 May 2022 and reflects our confidence in the progress of the business and the maintenance of our strong financial position. As previously announced all CJRS support in relation to 2021 has been repaid. Once again, the Board would like to express its thanks for the support of shareholders.

Business

Our overall performance in 2021 has reflected the considerable upheavals in the general business environment through the year. We dealt well with the hospitality market restrictions that affected much of the first half of 2021 and, as supply side issues impacted the later months of the year, we once again responded quickly. We have been guided in this by our core principles, firstly to continue to offer our customers a market leading service when our competitors have struggled to maintain deliveries and, secondly, to build our market share in profitable and repeat orientated markets. Both of these reflect our continued belief that we should always plan and operate for the longer term. The blend of our market, product and operational strategies has allowed us to continue to perform well. As a result we are now benefiting from exceptional demand from customers across all our markets and continue to build long term market share.

Ceramics

Overall Hospitality sales in the year to 31 December 2021 were 90% of the comparable period in 2019, with the shortfall entirely attributable to the COVID affected first four months of the year where sales were approximately half their 2019 levels. Sales in the second half year were 7% above 2019's comparative. This growth rate has increased in the first months of 2022.

Export revenues continue to be our main focus for growth and we have made progress in all of our overseas regions. The best performance was again from Europe, where revenues rose by £9.9m and recovered to 2019 levels despite the restricted start to the year. Sales in the second half year were 30% ahead of the comparable period in 2019. Good progress continued to be made in the USA and Rest of the World markets.  UK sales have performed well with progress in fragmented regional sales channels being supplemented by a later strong recovery in national account business.

We have further increased the proportion of added value products within our sales with the proportion of sales attributable to our differentiated portfolio rising to 59%. We continue to develop and launch new products.

Retail revenues increased slightly during the period as we adjusted UK production capacity on a tactical basis. In line with our strategy we expect revenue to reduce in this area in 2022.

Materials

Furlong Mills has performed well during the year with strong demand both from retail focused customers and from Churchill. Sales in the second half year exceeded those made in the comparable period of 2019.

Operations

2021 has been a year of significant challenge for our manufacturing and logistics operations. During the first half of the year output was maintained at lower levels, but the business' desire to quickly scale output to meet sharply rising demand has, as previously announced, introduced a number of inefficiencies within our operations. We increased our manufacturing staff numbers substantially over the course of the year in a difficult labour market and this has inevitably led to productivity issues as new staff entered the workplace. We have worked intensively to increase training and are pleased that output levels and efficiency are now starting to improve. Additionally the inflationary pressures more generally evident within the global economy have also impacted both our material and energy costs. While we have ultimately raised our prices to reflect these rises we have absorbed some of the increases in the short term. Our energy price hedging through 2022 and 2023 is now at higher levels.

We have invested further in projects to support the forward development of our operations. During the early part of the year we completed a number of investments. We completed our third factory extension in the last eighteen months which will aid flexibility and improve efficiency. We have also installed additional added value product capacity and a further kiln to support its use. Our forward plans now emphasise investment in reducing our energy footprint and, importantly, in improving our productivity.

Alongside capital investment we have identified increased training of our workforce as a key forward target. Alongside the high training requirement associated with a rapidly growing workforce, we have re-invigorated our Continuous Improvement 'Masterclass' programme and introduced other initiatives aimed at developing skills and capabilities across our business.

Environmental, Social and Governance ('ESG')

Churchill has made good progress in relation to the definition and implementation of ESG processes at strategic and operational levels across our business. We believe that many of the elements of a sound approach to ESG are already present within Churchill: We manufacture a product that is highly sustainable given that it may be used several thousand times and our programme of capital investment has given us a modern production facility ahead of those of many of our competitors. We have always recognised the need to develop our workforce and have ongoing research projects to both lower our energy usage and reduce waste. However the work we have done to benchmark our operations and to build an approach that embeds an ESG process within Churchill has identified many other opportunities to improve our performance. We are in the early stages of a project that will extend for several years, but we are clear that it will bring many benefits to all the stakeholders in the Churchill business.

Highlights for this year would include the investment of over £1.2m in generating solar power at our main Stoke on Trent site, substantially reducing our forward net electricity demand and the research into and subsequent development of a ceramic body to reduce waste. We have many other initiatives underway.

People

It is clear from the above report on the Company's operations and the challenges faced during the year that our employees have once again had to perform to a very high level to deliver a solid result. It would be invidious to single out any particular group for praise, they have all performed well and I thank them for their efforts, their initiative and above all, for their commitment to their colleagues and the Company. 

Outlook

The second half of 2021 saw a strong recovery in our sales to the Hospitality market enabling us to deliver against our targets despite a less than predictable business environment. Some of the issues arising from the challenges we face continue to impact on our operations, but we are making progress in resolving them and we continue to benefit from growing revenues.

Churchill has a long term approach to business and we believe that the fundamentals of our strategic position remain strong. The Hospitality market continues to be an attractive market characterised by a high level of repeat business. We have a leading position within the market supported by a technically differentiated product, a well invested operational base and a robust financial position.

We continue to benefit from record levels of demand. Whilst there may be concerns in relation to the effect of increased costs of living on discretionary spending we are not as yet experiencing any impact from this on order volumes. Our margin level remains affected by lower than desired levels of productivity, but we expect to improve this progressively as the year unfolds. While we are mindful of the potential impact of further COVID-related restrictions and geopolitical developments on our markets and manufacturing operations, we remain confident in our ability to deliver an improved performance in 2022.

Alan McWalter

Chairman

21 April 2022

5. Earnings per ordinary share                                                                                                                         

Basic earnings per ordinary share is based on the profit after income tax and on 11,022,835 (2020: 10,996,835) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year. Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated after adjusting for the post tax effect of exceptional items (see Note 2).

Diluted earnings per ordinary share is based on the profit after income tax and on 11,022,835 (2020: 11,028,486) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year of 11,022,835 (2020: 10,996,835) increased by nil (2020: 31,651) shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares which would have been issued if the outstanding options to acquire shares in the Group had been exercised at the average share price during the year. There has been no impact of diluted earning per share on the shares that were granted during the year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is calculated after adjusting for the post tax effect of exceptional items (see Note 2).

7. Dividend                                                                                                          

The dividends paid in the year were as follows:

The Directors now recommend payment of the following dividend:

Dividends on treasury shares held by the Company are waived.

8. Retirement benefit obligations                                                                                  

The liability recognised by the Company in relation to its Defined Benefit Pension Scheme under IAS 19 has decreased by £3,226,000 to £7,156,000 (2020: increased by £5,039,000). This decrease is as a result of changes in market derived assumptions in relation to the discount rate used to assess the present value of Scheme liabilities of 1.8% (2020: 1.4%) and an increase in forecast future CPI inflation to 2.9% (2020: 2.3%). Together with other more minor variations in assumptions these changes have decreased liabilities by £221,000, and increased anticipated investment returns. The Scheme was closed to new entrants in 1999 and to future accrual in 2006.

9. Share buybacks

The Company did not buy back any shares during the year, but may consider making ad hoc share buybacks going forward at the discretion of the Board and subject to shareholder authorities being renewed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

10. Basis of preparation and accounting policies          

The financial information included in the preliminary announcement for year to 31 December 2021 has been approved by the Board on 21 April 2022.

The preliminary financial statements do not constitute the statutory accounts of the Company within the meaning of section 434 of the Companies Act 2006, but are derived from those accounts, which have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted International Accounting Standards and with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 as applicable to companies reporting under those standards.

This information has been prepared under the historical cost convention as modified by the revaluation of land and buildings and financial assets and liabilities (including derivative instruments) at fair value through the profit and loss account. The same accounting policies, presentation and methods of computation are followed in the preliminary financial statements as were applied in the Group's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020 with the impact of transition to UK-adopted International Accounting Standards having no impact on recognition, measurement or disclosure in the period as a result of the change in framework.. Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2020 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies after the Company's Annual General Meeting and will also be available on the Company's website (www.churchill1795.com) in May 2022. The auditors have reported on those accounts. Their report was not qualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report, and did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.