Last close As at 05/08/2026
GBP19.33
▲ −13.00 (−0.67%)
Market capitalisation
GBP1,977m
Greggs |
In line with expectations |
Q316 update |
Retail |
12 October 2016 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next events
Analysts
Greggs is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Greggs enjoys a differentiated position in the growing food-to-go market. Its strategy to enhance its offer and improve the efficiency with which it delivers that offer has yielded good results so far and remains on track. Although the industry faces input cost headwinds in FY17, Greggs has the financial strength to withstand them and the benefit of the continuing strategic initiatives to offset them.
Year end |
Revenue (£m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/14 |
806.1 |
58.3 |
44.0 |
22.0 |
22.9 |
2.2 |
12/15 |
835.7 |
73.0 |
57.3 |
28.6 |
17.6 |
2.8 |
12/16e |
877.8 |
77.2 |
60.2 |
29.9 |
16.7 |
3.0 |
12/17e |
928.7 |
80.0 |
62.3 |
31.0 |
16.2 |
3.1 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
Q3 trading in line with expectations
With one quarter to go, Greggs is confident that it is on target to meet full-year expectations for FY16. We have therefore left our FY16 estimates unchanged. In the 13 weeks to 1 October 2016 total sales grew by 5.6% (2015: 5.0%) and like-for-like sales in company-managed shops increased by 2.8% (2015: 4.9%), in line with management’s expectations. Total sales have grown by 5.6% in the year-to-date and like-for-like sales have increased by 3.4%.
Industry-wide cost pressures in FY17
Management has highlighted pressure on certain commodity prices and the impact of the decline in sterling’s value as probable headwinds in FY17. Clearly Greggs and the industry generally will work to offset these pressures. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the further decline in sterling since we last wrote by reducing our FY17 gross margin assumption by 40bps and our PBT forecast by £4m.
Valuation: Broadly unchanged
The combination of a higher discount rate, lower FY17 gross margin assumption and faster net new store openings for the foreseeable future results in an immaterial 10p increase in our DCF valuation of Greggs from 1,179p to 1,189p. On our estimates, at 1,189p, the shares would trade on an FY16e P/E of 19.8x, which would fall to 19.1x in FY17e. The respective dividend yields would be 2.5% and 2.6%. At the end of FY15, Greggs reported net cash of c £43m and we expect a very similar level at the end of FY16. On an EV/EBITDA basis, the ratios for this year and next at today’s share price are 8.0x and 7.6x, respectively. At 1,189p, those ratios would be 10.0x and 9.5x.
Q316 trading update
Trading in line with expectations
The headline and the first sentence of Greggs’ Q3 update stressed the point that trading in the quarter was in line with management’s expectations. In the 13 weeks to 1 October 2016 total sales grew by 5.6% (2015: 5.0%) and like-for-like sales in company-managed shops increased by 2.8% (2015: 4.9%), in line with management’s expectations. Total sales have grown by 5.6% in the year-to-date and like-for-like sales have increased by 3.4%.
These figures are lower than those reported for H116 (like-for-like 3.8%; total 6.0%) and against an easier comparative. As ever, we would caution against reading too much into an individual quarter’s numbers. External factors such as weather and the timing of school holidays, among others, can materially distort the data over such a short period. It is worth repeating that the Q3 result was in line with management’s expectations.
Expansion continues
Through three quarters of FY16 Greggs has completed 145 shop refurbishments and is on track to refurbish around 200 shops this year. The company has also opened 103 new shops, including 41 franchised units predominantly in transport locations. It has closed 58 shops, leaving a total of 1,743 shops trading at 4 October (comprising 1,600 own-managed shops and 143 franchised units).
The pipeline of new shop locations remains good and, for FY16 as a whole, management still expects to open 140-150 shops and close circa 70-80, a net increase of around 70.
FY16 outlook
Management is pleased with progress on the first stages of its supply chain investment plan. The work to facilitate the new distribution centre in Enfield is now finished and the site will be brought into operation in the coming weeks. As a result Greggs will complete the previously-announced closure of its Twickenham bakery in November. With trading to date also on track, management stated that its “expectations for the full year outturn remain unchanged”.
A note of caution on FY17
At the end of its Q3 update management noted, “As we look to next year, whilst we anticipate some general industry-wide cost pressures, we expect to make further progress against our strategic plan”. In our note of 3 August 2016, we noted that we were maintaining our FY17 gross margin assumptions but that the outcome would depend upon further currency moves, changes to underlying commodity prices, retail pricing, production efficiencies, wastage rates and sales mix, among other factors. Since we published that note, sterling has weakened further. We have therefore reduced our estimates for FY17 (see Exhibit 1).
We now assume that gross margins will reduce by c 0.4pp. As we noted a moment ago, there are many moving parts to a retail gross margin. All other things being equal, the more than 10% fall in sterling against the US dollar would reduce gross margins by far more than 40bps. However, changes in the currency affect all players within the industry so we expect to see price rises in response to rising input costs. The growth of higher-margin coffee sales within Greggs’ sales mix will act as a further restraint on the scale of any gross margin decline. Production efficiencies resulting from the bakery rationalisation programme are also positive for gross margins. We would also expect Greggs’ buyers to be inviting suppliers to ‘share the pain’ and/or seeking lower cost sources of supply. All of these things were true when we last modelled Greggs’ financials; however, sterling has fallen further in the past week so we have reflected this by moving our gross margin estimate from flat to minus 40bps.
Financials
Given that management is insistent that progress so far this year is in line with its expectations, we see no need to change estimates for FY16. However, the warning about industry-wide cost pressures has caused us to revisit our FY17 assumptions, as just discussed.
The major change is the reduction in gross margin estimate. However, we have also increased the number of net new store openings in FY17 and beyond, reflecting the strong programme in FY16 and the positive comments on the pipeline.
We summarise the changes to our estimates below.
Exhibit 1: Changes to estimates
EPS (p) |
PBT (£m) |
EBITDA (£m) |
|||||||
Old |
New |
% chg. |
Old |
New |
% chg. |
Old |
New |
% chg. |
|
2016e |
60.2 |
60.2 |
0.0% |
77.2 |
77.2 |
0.0% |
120.2 |
120.2 |
0.0% |
2017e |
65.4 |
62.3 |
-4.8% |
84.0 |
80.0 |
-4.8% |
132.0 |
126.1 |
-4.4% |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Valuation
The combination of a higher discount rate (from 4.9% to 5.2%), lower FY17 gross margin assumption and faster net new store openings for the foreseeable future results in an immaterial 10p increase in our valuation of Greggs from 1,179p to 1,189p. That valuation is sensitive to changes in the discount rate and the terminal post-tax cash flow multiple used (our base case uses 8x). The following sensitivity table shows the effect of changes to either or both of those variables.
Exhibit 2: Sensitivity of valuation (p/share) to discount rate (%) and terminal cash-flow multiple (x)
|
4.6% |
4.9% |
5.2% |
5.5% |
5.8% |
6.1% |
6.4% |
7.0x |
1,175 |
1,150 |
1,126 |
1,102 |
1,079 |
1,057 |
1,035 |
7.5x |
1,209 |
1,183 |
1,157 |
1,133 |
1,109 |
1,085 |
1,063 |
8.0x |
1,243 |
1,215 |
1,189 |
1,163 |
1,138 |
1,114 |
1,091 |
8.5x |
1,276 |
1,248 |
1,220 |
1,194 |
1,168 |
1,143 |
1,118 |
9.0x |
1,310 |
1,280 |
1,252 |
1,224 |
1,197 |
1,171 |
1,146 |
9.5x |
1,343 |
1,313 |
1,283 |
1,255 |
1,227 |
1,200 |
1,174 |
10.0x |
1,377 |
1,345 |
1,315 |
1,285 |
1,257 |
1,229 |
1,202 |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 3: Financial summary
£m |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016e |
2017e |
||
Year end 31 December |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
|||||||
Revenue |
|
|
762.4 |
806.1 |
835.7 |
877.8 |
928.7 |
Cost of Sales |
(305.9) |
(304.8) |
(305.1) |
(319.2) |
(341.4) |
||
Gross Profit |
456.5 |
501.3 |
530.6 |
558.7 |
587.3 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
74.9 |
95.6 |
113.3 |
120.2 |
126.1 |
Operating Profit (before amort. and except.) |
41.5 |
58.1 |
73.1 |
77.2 |
79.9 |
||
Intangible Amortisation |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Exceptionals |
(8.1) |
(8.5) |
0.0 |
(7.6) |
0.0 |
||
Other |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Operating Profit |
33.4 |
49.6 |
73.1 |
69.6 |
79.9 |
||
Net Interest |
(0.2) |
0.2 |
(0.1) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
41.3 |
58.3 |
73.0 |
77.2 |
80.0 |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
33.2 |
49.7 |
73.0 |
69.6 |
80.0 |
Tax |
(10.3) |
(14.0) |
(15.4) |
(16.8) |
(17.4) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
30.9 |
44.3 |
57.6 |
60.4 |
62.6 |
||
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
24.2 |
37.6 |
57.6 |
54.6 |
62.6 |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
100.4 |
100.5 |
100.6 |
100.5 |
100.5 |
||
EPS - normalised (p) |
|
|
30.8 |
44.0 |
57.3 |
60.2 |
62.3 |
EPS - normalised and fully diluted (p) |
|
30.5 |
43.4 |
55.8 |
58.9 |
60.9 |
|
EPS - (IFRS) (p) |
|
|
24.1 |
37.4 |
57.3 |
54.3 |
62.3 |
Dividend per share (p) |
19.5 |
22.0 |
28.6 |
29.9 |
31.0 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
59.9 |
62.2 |
63.5 |
63.6 |
63.2 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
9.8 |
11.9 |
13.6 |
13.7 |
13.6 |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except.) (%) |
5.4 |
7.2 |
8.7 |
8.8 |
8.6 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
|||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
268.9 |
267.4 |
298.2 |
326.8 |
355.6 |
Intangible Assets |
1.0 |
4.7 |
10.2 |
15.6 |
20.3 |
||
Tangible Assets |
267.8 |
262.7 |
284.2 |
307.1 |
331.2 |
||
Investments |
0.1 |
0.0 |
3.8 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
65.0 |
101.5 |
86.0 |
87.5 |
97.8 |
Stocks |
15.4 |
15.3 |
15.4 |
16.0 |
17.0 |
||
Debtors |
25.0 |
26.1 |
27.6 |
27.5 |
29.1 |
||
Cash |
21.6 |
43.6 |
42.9 |
44.0 |
51.7 |
||
Other |
3.0 |
16.5 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(80.7) |
(102.1) |
(106.0) |
(113.9) |
(118.7) |
Creditors |
(80.7) |
(102.1) |
(106.0) |
(113.9) |
(118.7) |
||
Short term borrowings |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(17.0) |
(20.1) |
(11.9) |
(26.7) |
(24.9) |
Long term borrowings |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(17.0) |
(20.1) |
(11.9) |
(26.7) |
(24.9) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
236.2 |
246.7 |
266.3 |
273.7 |
309.8 |
CASH FLOW |
|||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
82.5 |
108.6 |
119.6 |
123.9 |
130.6 |
Net Interest |
(0.0) |
0.2 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
||
Tax |
(13.2) |
(11.5) |
(15.9) |
(16.9) |
(17.4) |
||
Capex |
(48.6) |
(48.3) |
(71.8) |
(85.0) |
(75.0) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0.2 |
(4.8) |
18.1 |
13.9 |
0.0 |
||
Financing |
0.9 |
(2.6) |
(7.2) |
(4.1) |
0.0 |
||
Dividends |
(19.6) |
(19.6) |
(43.7) |
(30.9) |
(30.6) |
||
Net Cash Flow |
2.2 |
22.0 |
(0.7) |
1.0 |
7.7 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(19.4) |
(21.6) |
(43.6) |
(42.9) |
(44.0) |
HP finance leases initiated |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Other |
0.0 |
(0.0) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(21.6) |
(43.6) |
(42.9) |
(44.0) |
(51.7) |
Source: Greggs accounts, Edison Investment Research
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