Lords Group Trading plc

('Lords' or the 'Group')

Trading Update

Notice of Final Results

Lords, a leading distributor of building materials in the UK, provides the following trading update ahead of publication next month of the Group's full year results for the year ended 31 December 2021 ('FY21' or the 'period').

The Group confirms that it expects to report FY21 revenues in line with market expectations of £363 million and profitability in line with or exceeding market expectations, with FY21 Adjusted EBITDA* of approximately £21.5 million and Adjusted EPS (basic)** of not less than 5.4 pence per ordinary share.  

In addition, the performance and integration of the seven businesses acquired by Lords during FY21 and following the year end continue in line with expectations.

Current trading and outlook

Including the benefit of acquisitions made prior to and during the period, Group Q1 FY22 revenue was approximately 13.5% ahead of the same period last year.

Since the year end, demand for the Group's repairs, maintenance and improvement ('RMI') sector focused product offering has remained strong and, notwithstanding inflationary pressures and the current global macro-economic and geo-political outlook, the Group's Merchanting division has continued to deliver growth in line with management expectations during Q1 FY22.

Strong Q1 FY22 Merchanting division like-for-like revenue growth of 16.8% (over the same period in the prior year) has been driven by delivery of the Group's organic strategy of product range extension, enhanced digital presence and focus on exceptional customer service. Absolute Merchanting revenue growth of 79.3% during the quarter (when compared to Q1 FY21) has been primarily driven by ongoing delivery of the Group's stated acquisition strategy.

Customer demand has also remained strong across the Group's Heating and Plumbing division ('H&P'). However, APP Wholesale Limited has not been immune to industry wide boiler supply constraints on account of boiler component shortages and the limited boiler supply has had a progressively negative effect on the division's revenues throughout Q1 FY22, with Q1 H&P FY22 division revenues approximately 12.0% below the same period last year.

Whilst the impact is expected to be felt more acutely in revenue terms in the months of April and May 2022 as lower stock availability and supply constraints persist, underlying customer demand remains strong and indications are that the boiler supply issues will ease later in FY22.  

Including the benefit of acquisitions made prior to and during the period, and notwithstanding prevailing boiler supply constraints within the Group's H&P division, the Group continues to trade largely in line with market expectations for FY22 - with current expectations of FY22 Group revenue of approximately £438 million and, as a result of management actions taken, FY22 profitability in line with current market expectation with Adjusted PBT* of approximately £16.0 million.  

Commenting on the trading update, Shanker Patel, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We continue to make strategic acquisitions that are integrating well into the Group and adding to our size, reach and product range, which helps to better serve our customers and ultimately drive growth. While industry wide boiler component shortages have created a short-term impact on our Heating and Plumbing division, importantly customer demand remains robust, showing the strength of our proposition."

Notice of Final Results

The Group will report its final results for the year ended 31 December 2021 on Tuesday, 24 May 2022.  There will be a conference call for analysts at 0930hrs on the day of the results, which will be hosted by Shanker Patel (CEO) and Chris Day (CFO).  Please contact Buchanan at [email protected] if you would like to receive details.

*Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, share option expense, acquisition costs and exceptional items, and is stated on an IFRS basis.

**Adjusted PBT (basic) is defined as profits before tax before amortisation of goodwill.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information pursuant to Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended.  Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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Notes to editors:

Lords is a specialist distributor of building, plumbing, heating and DIY goods.  The Group principally sells to local tradesmen, small to medium sized plumbing and heating merchants, construction companies and retails directly to the general public.

The Group operates through the following two divisions:

·   Merchanting: supplies building materials and DIY goods through its network of merchant businesses and online platform capabilities.  It operates both in the 'light side' (building materials and timber) and 'heavy side' (civils and landscaping), through 30 locations in the UK.

·    Heating and Plumbing: a specialist distributor in the UK of heating and plumbing products to a UK network of independent merchants, installers and the general public.  The division offers its customers an attractive proposition through a multi-channel offering.  The division operates over 15 locations enabling nationwide next day delivery service.

Lords was established over 35 years ago as a family business with its first retail unit in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.  Since then, the Group has grown to a business operating from 45 sites.  Lords aims to become a £500 million turnover building materials distributor group by 2024 as it grows its national presence.

Lords was admitted to trading on AIM in July 2021 with the ticker LORD.L.  For additional information please visit www.lordsgrouptradingplc.co.uk .