Essentra boss eyes larger deals and targets £1bn in sales in 2014
ESSENTRA is eyeing larger deals as it looks to ramp up its acquisition spree in 2014, its chief executive said yesterday.
Colin Day told City A.M. that the FTSE 250 plastic and fibre products maker has “three or four projects in the pipeline at the moment” and is “very open to doing a bigger deal if we find the right target”.
Since 2011, Essentra has spent more than £300m on nine acquisitions, including Contego Healthcare last year, and plans to spend a further £200m this year.
Day mooted healthcare, personal care or a technology play as potential areas of interest.
Essentra reported a 20 per cent rise in full-year revenue to £798.1m, with growth across all divisions but a particularly strong performance from its filter products unit.
Adjusted pre-tax profit rose by 26 per cent to £119.8m, while the dividend was increased by 23 per cent to 15.4p per share, exceeding some analysts’ expectations.
Filter product revenue increased by 16.5 per cent to £269.9m, led by strong growth in Asia and in both special and flavoured filters. A number of new products were launched during the year, including the Groove Core cigarette filters.
The firm said it is on track to deliver at least mid single-digit like-for-like revenue growth this year.
“We have an ambition to reach £1bn in sales in 2014, up from £800m in 2013,” said Day. “The business is teeing itself up from a FTSE 150 company to become a FTSE 120 company.”
Shares closed 5.5 per cent lower.