Franchise Brands PLC (LON:FRAN) confirmed a strong recovery across its group, with interim results showing an 18% rise in revenue.
Revenue for the six months ended June 30 was £28.6mln, up from £24.2mln in the same period a year ago. Earnings (adjusted EBITDA) rose 50% to £4.2mln and statutory profit was 200% higher at £2.6mln.
Cash conversion was strong, at 84% vs a 2020 comparative of 38%, and the group ended the half with £5.2mln of net cash. An interim dividend of 0.6p per share was declared, double the 0.3p interim payment in 2020.
"The first half of 2021 has been a period of strong recovery from the COVID-impacted performance in 2020, despite the lockdown in Q1,” said executive chair Stephen Hemsley. "The strength of our brands, our people and our franchisees have allowed us to weather the storm and emerge fitter and stronger as both a team and as a business.
“We look forward to the second half of the year and beyond with great optimism. We are confident that the full year performance will be ahead of current consensus market expectations."
The market currently expects full-year revenue of around £56.7mln of revenue, adjusted EBITDA of £7.85 and total dividends of 1.4p.
Breaking down the business performance, Franchise noted that the Metro Rod and Metro Plumb system sales increased by 21%, to £23.7mln, whilst Willow Pumps saw sales growth of 11%.
It described a strong performance in its business-to-customer (B2C) division. It noted that it had a higher number of franchisees, up to 393, following a robust return of recruitment that added 40 new franchisees.