Smiths News plc (SNWS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Smiths News plc investor presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to Jon Bunting, CEO. Good afternoon, sir.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Smiths News Interim Results for the 26 weeks ended the 28th of February 2026. I'm Jon Bunting, Smiths News CEO, and joining me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Richard Clay. Richard joined the company in February of this year, and we're delighted to have him on board. So before we dive into the detail, let me quickly cover off the broader headlines. Once again, Smiths News delivered a positive performance with full year results expected to be in line with market expectations. Pleasingly, the business generated adjusted operating profit of GBP 18.3 million and adjusted profit after tax of GBP 12.7 million, underpinning our interim dividend of 1.75p per share. Our newspaper and magazine activities continue to remain resilient, tracking broader print market trends and historic norms. In addition, we have now secured 96% of our newspaper and magazine revenues to 2029 or beyond, following the renewal of a long-term contract with the Guardian Newspaper Group. The collectibles market has remained strong, driven by ongoing demand from Pokémon, including the 30th anniversary, and we're obviously looking forward to the summer Men's FIFA World Cup, which typically provides a one-off boost to the second half. Progress continued across all the verticals with recycling revenues up over 50%, an obvious highlight. I'll now hand over to Richard, who will walk you through our financial performance in a little more detail.

Thank you, Jon, and good morning to everyone. Starting with the financial summary. Revenues declined by 3.9% in the period, which is in line with our guidance of minus 3% to 5%. Whilst revenue from newspaper and magazines decreased to just above 4%, we saw an increase in revenue from collectibles and our growth verticals. We will look at revenue in more detail on the next slide. Adjusted operating profit decreased by GBP 1.1 million to GBP 18.3 million, impacted by the annualization of national insurance contributions since last April and ongoing investments in our cost base. The performance of collectibles, including Pokémon and the ongoing benefit of cost reduction plans partially mitigated the impact of both inflation and lower income from newspapers and magazines. We expect full year results to be in line with market expectations. It is worth remembering that over the next few months, we will see revenue from FIFA World Cup trading card and sticker collections, which will give our profit a second half weighting this year. Free cash flow of GBP 21.2 million was GBP 7.9 million higher than last year and included a working capital timing benefit of GBP 7.6 million, part of our normal working capital cycle. Underlying cash flow remains strong and has supported the move to an average net cash position, which was GBP 16.2 million for the half year, noting that the ordinary and special dividends of GBP 16.7 million were paid in February at the end of the reporting period. To give a little more color to our revenue numbers on this slide, our headline revenue number shows a 3.9% decline on the same period last year, which again is the same period last year, which again is within the 3% to 5% annual decline, which we guide to. Newspapers and magazines continue to make up over 90% of total revenue and the 4.1% decline in these products drives the overall performance. Collectibles has continued to perform well, and we saw revenue up 13.3% since half -- last half year. Revenue from growth verticals, while relatively small compared to the headline newspapers and magazines revenue increased by 35%, in particular, due to additional revenues in the recycle vertical, which Jon will touch upon later. On to the adjusted income statement. Below operating profit, net finance charges were GBP 0.4 million lower than last year with the company in a net cash position for much of the first half. With lower finance charges, PBT reduced by GBP 0.7 million or 4% to GBP 17.0 million with EPS then decreasing by 3.7% to 5.2p. An interim dividend of 1.75p in line with last year has been approved by the Board and will be paid in July. Total free cash flow for the half was an inflow of GBP 21.2 million, an increase of GBP 7.9 million from last year, partly due to favorable timing of our working capital cycle, which gave a GBP 10.1 million benefit when compared to last year. There are 2 items worth noting in this slide. Firstly, you may remember that we received 2 significant one-off inflows in the first half of FY '25, GBP 1.6 million from the administrators of McColl's and a GBP 1.5 million tax credit from the sale of the Smiths News pension scheme. These were included within the GBP 2.1 million presented as adjusting items inflows last year. Secondly, adjusting items in this period consisted of technology investment costs of GBP 0.3 million, strategic project costs of GBP 0.2 million and professional fees of GBP 0.1 million in relation to the pension regulators review of the Tuffnells defined benefit pension scheme. As previously announced, the Board is reviewing the warning notice received from the pensions regulator with its advisers and will have an opportunity to make submissions in response. The Board maintains the view that Smiths News acted reasonably throughout its time as parent of Tuffnells and that it was an overall net contributor of funding to Tuffnells during its period of ownership. Working down from working capital, capital expenditure of GBP 0.9 million was GBP 1.4 million lower than last year, reflecting the investment cycle and where we are in individual programs. Lease payments reduced by GBP 0.3 million year-on-year, in part due to properties exited in the first half of FY '25. And tax cash payments were higher than last year as the prior period included a credit relating to previous tax years. Finally for me, this slide shows a 12-month rolling cash flow, bridging GBP 12.4 million of net debt a year ago to a GBP 7.8 million net cash position this half year. Over the last 12 months, the business has generated an underlying cash flow of GBP 26.8 million, consistent with our guidance of circa GBP 20 million to GBP 25 million annual inflow that the business has been delivering for some time, noting that this figure includes GBP 3.7 million received from the McColl's administrator in the second half of last year, which formed part of the basis for the GBP 7.4 million special dividend paid in February. We continue to focused on average net cash or debt as a headline measure as our reported closing position is impacted by the timing of our working capital cycle and dividends. Average net debt of GBP 1.1 million at H1 2025 improved to net cash of GBP 16.2 million in H1 2026. In terms of dividends for the current year, the Board continues to assess the cash generated from trading alongside the needs to invest across all areas of the business before deciding on distributions in line with our capital allocation policy. I'll now hand back to Jon.

Thank you, Richard. Now turning to the operational review of our H1 performance, starting with our newspaper and magazine vertical. As already touched on, our newspapers and magazine vertical remains resilient and continues to perform in line with market trends. We have now secured 96% of revenues out to 2029 following a recent contract renewal with the Guardian, which reinforces our broader business confidence by providing further revenue visibility. Our teams remain committed to ongoing service excellence and forging closer relationships with both our publisher partners and retail customers, which are essential to maintaining longer-term demand. Cover price inflation continues to be a feature of the market and benefits our commercial model. Our newspaper and magazine vertical continues to be at the center of our business, underpinning our expansion and reinforcing our commitment to deliver shareholder value. To that end, I thought a quick reminder of the breadth of our activities might be useful. Smiths News has been involved in the distribution of newspapers and magazine since 1792, and it's fair to say much has changed since then. Over that time, we have established a sophisticated early morning distribution network, which now encompasses over 160,000 weekly deliveries, delivering over 15 million items per week and collecting over 5.5 million items per week. We service over 22,000 customers across all retail formats, including large supermarkets, petrol forecourts, high street chains, travel points and thousands of small independent retailers across England and Wales, covering 55% of the U.K. We process over 280 million returns per annum and recycle 99% of all printed products that are returned. Since the beginning of FY '23, we have been upgrading a number of our systems and processes to ensure the backbone of our business not only remains future-proof, but can also support our growth ambitions for many years to come. We are experts in the early morning supply chain space and leveraging this knowledge base and capability sits at the heart of our business strategy. Looking at collectibles. In some ways, collectibles could sit in our new categories vertical, and the segment is indeed in structural growth. However, for now, we continue to report it as part of our news and magazine vertical. We've had another period of strong performance with the demand seen last year continuing into the first half of 2026. Our team have been working proactively to secure additional retailers to distribute Pokémon cards too, including a number of our national supermarket customers, alongside commencing the trial of another Japanese anime card game, all of which has been made possible by leveraging our proven track record in this growing market sector. With the upcoming Men's FIFA World Cup and Pokémon's 30th anniversary, we expect additional sales momentum in the second half, setting the category up for another excellent performance across the year. Our recycling vertical, now under the leadership of new MD, Adam Wylie, delivered a highly promising performance, culminating in a 50% year-on-year increase in revenues and the launch of a number of new services. The team has focused heavily on strengthening ties with waste brokers, which we believe will unlock additional routes to market and in turn, create further commercial opportunities. We have launched a number of new services, including recycling services for vape and small WEEE, alongside undertaking a coffee cup collection trial for a national high street chain. Regulation will continue to play a key role in the ongoing development of our recycling activities. You may be aware of DRS due to launch in late 2027, which may represent an opportunity for Smiths News recycling. The Deposit Return Scheme or DRS, will be introduced in the U.K. towards the end of 2027 with the aim to generate a refundable deposit into every single-use drinks container at the point of purchase, which is an estimated 25 billion units. Essentially, consumers will pay a small refundable deposit on plastic bottles and aluminum and steel cans, which will then be refunded upon returning containers to the designated returns points such as supermarkets, convenience retailers or hospitality venues. We expect 10% to 15% of all containers will be returned via manual returns points where the retailer or hospitality venue doesn't invest in an automated machine. These containers will need to be bagged and then collected, scanned and recycled in order for the retailer to receive their credit. We estimate that around 70% of Smiths News convenience stores and independent retailers will be obliged to become a return point. We, therefore, see an opportunity in partnering with exchange for change around DRS, the scale of which could run from a full national partner for both services through to a smaller regional partner for one service. There is a significant overlap of our footprint, and we're also well placed to count and process these containers at our Final Mile depots. This process is almost identical to the returns process that we undertake successfully for many years for newspapers and magazines. There is still work to be done, but this remains an exciting potential opportunity for the business, and we expect to have a further update in the coming months. Within our other 2 growth verticals, New Categories and Final Mile, we continue to make ongoing progress to further leverage network capacity. Within our book distribution service, our teams are now delivering 30,000 books per week across our footprint, and our pipeline is developing nicely. Our in-store merchandising team has also recently secured a book contract, further demonstrating Smiths News expertise in providing a truly end-to-end service. We now pick, pack and distribute books to the store. Our merchandisers now manage the fixture, and we collect the unsold books and process them for either redistribution or recycle. Within our Final Mile activities, we are currently onboarding an international provider of optical and hearing care services to deliver through the night delivery services. This contract, when fully rolled out, will see Smiths News make delivery 6 days a week to over 580 stores across the entire Smiths News footprint. These collective wins are all good examples of our strategy and progress. In 2025, we launched our internal investment program designed to optimize our warehouse management operations and enhance existing capabilities. This program continues to future-proof both our established business and our growth activities. By the end of 2026, we will have rolled out our transport management system across all Final Mile sites, and we have already expanded our cloud warehouse management system to support our growth customers. In addition, we are now in the process of launching a new data platform, and we're also replacing our legacy contact center infrastructure, which is expected to be live by the end of 2026. These are important upgrades and improvements to our business. Whilst the quantum investment remains the same, we expect some of the works to now complete in 2028 as we phase their implementation sensibly into the business. Turning to the outlook for the remainder of the current financial year. We've made a pleasing start to 2026 and are on track to deliver results for the full year results in line with market expectations. Our newspapers and magazine segment remains resilient with another promising performance from our growth verticals. Collectibles are expected to perform strongly, supported by an anticipated boost in H2 from the FIFA Men's World Cup, supporting our H2 profit weighting in the current year. The business is also on track to deliver operational efficiencies across FY '26 in excess of GBP 4 million. In all, a positive outlook for the broader business as we look ahead to the remainder of the financial year. I'd like to thank you all for listening, and Richard and I are now very happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] I'd like to remind you that recording of this presentation along with the copy of the slides and the published Q&A can be accessed via Investor Relations board. As you can see we have received a number of questions throughout today's presentation. I please ask you to read out the questions and give responses where appropriate to do so, and I'll pick up from you at the end.

Thank you, Lilly. I'm going to start with some questions first on news and mags. Hopefully, we'll try to give a bit of structure. So the first question is, what is the competition when you do your contract negotiations and what are the key requirements?

Okay. So typically, we have one direct competitor, which is InPost Newstrade, formerly known as Menzies Distribution. And then we have a number of indirect competitors, which would be broader distribution companies, which publishers can -- also seek proposals from. So we have direct and indirect in terms of who is likely to tender for the business when we tender. In terms of the criteria that publishers are awarding against, there are normally 4 things, I think, that a publisher is looking for. The first is what is our vision for the category going forward and how do we see our service offer evolving to meet the needs of retailers going forward. It's very much a focus on meeting the retail requirement. The second is obviously price. So on what basis are we prepared to provide that service. The third is really track record. So obviously, we've been in providing this service for a long time now, so they can look at our track record from a service perspective and take a degree of confidence from that. And I think the last element is always relationship. Are you good to do business with? And do they feel they can trust you to manage their business in partnership with them for a number of years. So I think it's all of those things, vision for the category, service price and your approach to overall business.

Great. So I will now move to a question on fuel. So can you clarify your expectation with the impact to the group from sustained higher diesel prices? So we put something into the RNS actually on this, so around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and within the macroeconomic uncertainty principal risk. I suppose the good news is that there's negligible impact on our cost base to date. We do see some cost increases in trunking. And as the question went on to ask about contractors, so most of our contractors are driving diesel vans and in the negotiations with them, the cost of fuel will come up. But that's just normal course of business. At this stage, we're not noticing any significant impact. We'll keep it under close monitoring. Just related to fuel costs, some people also then have asked about energy costs. So our energy costs are hedged over the short to medium term. And therefore, we're also not noticing any impact on our cost base at this stage, and we would expect that to continue as long as the conflict does not go on for a very long period. So next, I'm going to go to a question on collectibles. I suppose, Jon, could you bring out some of the highlights in collectibles, and there were some specifics about Japanese anime, if you can just cover that off?

Okay. Yes. I mean, as you will have heard Richard mentioned, we've had another strong start from a collections perspective in the year, up 13% year-on-year. We still continue to see good demand for Pokémon, which is obviously important. We've got a proven track record of success with football collections. Normally, we're referring to the Premier League. But actually, this year, we've also seen a real increase in interest in the EFL. And then in the second half, we've got the Men's FIFA World Cup. So overall, we're expecting another very strong performance from that category. We do continue to look at other products that might help boost our performance in that area, and that could be Japanese anime and a variety of things that we're actively exploring as we've got some dedicated resource just on that category now given the growth we're experiencing there. Too early to talk about it at this stage. But overall, we're really pleased with the performance of collectibles.

Great. A slightly more general question about crime within the convenience store sector and whether this represents a threat to our business in newspapers and magazine distribution. Any thoughts on that?

Yes, that wasn't a question I was expecting. Yes, I mean, it's definitely something that all of our retail customers are facing into on a daily basis. And I have to say I do feel for them in terms of how you manage that, trying to keep your staff secure whilst also making it clear that that's not an acceptable behavior. We don't actually see that much crime relating to the news and magazine category, I'm pleased to say. But it is something that many of our retail customers do have to manage on a day-to-day basis, but not directly as a consequence of the products that we supply.

Next, a question on recycling and DRS in particular, but also other areas in recycling. What has been the general feedback from your retail customers on the implementation of DRS and also vape recycling. And what are the typical constraints preventing them from opting into these offerings?

Okay. So the deposit return scheme doesn't actually go live until the autumn of 2027. So at this moment in time, there isn't sort of any implementation feedback. I think what we've seen from the work we've done looking at DRS in other markets is that it's really important that our retail customers do participate. It's proven to be a footfall driver. So you get extra footfall in your store if you're a retail customer that provides that solution. But also if you don't, it also takes footfall away from your store. So I think the way we're looking at it is, should we be successful in and when we tender for this business, part of our role will be to help educate our customers about the importance of DRS for them and what it can do for their stores and how we can support them with that. But at this stage, it is simply at the tender stage, and therefore, we've not been chosen as a partner for exchange for change. In terms of vape, vape is really interesting. So we launched our service only a few weeks ago in this space. What's the single biggest barrier, probably education. So it's actually a legal requirement if you sell a certain percentage of vapes within your store to provide a recycled solution for it. But when we're selling the solution to many of our customers, they're not actually aware of the legal obligation, and they assume it applies to stores that are selling many more than they are. So I would say the single biggest barrier at the moment is just education, but we're pleased with the response we're getting in the first few weeks of selling that proposition.

Pause to read one that just came in, just check with this on that. No. So we've got a few questions then on financial. So a factual one. First up, what is the expectation for an adjusted GAAP PBT for the full year? So the consensus that we put into the RNS is an operating profit level of GBP 37.2 million, that's the PBT level was 34.1 million at the time of publishing. It will have moved slightly with some of the reports coming from analysts this morning, but that wouldn't be material. So that's that one. And then what are the reasons for not doing a share buyback and preferring the special dividend? So that's a sort of capital allocation policy question and share buyback versus dividend in particular. We know that across our investor base, we have a variety of different needs. And therefore, we evaluate those on a regular basis when we discuss this at the Board. And at this stage, we have chosen in the past to do a special dividend rather than a share buyback. But at any stage, we would keep all of those under review. A new question has just come in. Let me just check. So historically, a lot of the focus was on reducing debt and strengthening the balance sheet. Now that Smiths News has moved into a net cash position with strong cash generation, what are you thinking about managing the cash balance going forward? I suppose that's really, again, a capital allocation question. So first of all, as the question infers is about strong balance sheet, yes, we've got to a net cash position. But one does have to think about that net cash position both in terms of -- and as we refer to the average cash versus the closing cash, there are big working capital movements, whether month-on-month or within the months that we need to make sure that we are able to manage. But once we've confirmed the strong balance sheet, then we start to think about the uses. We think about investing for growth, investing for the sustainable future of this business. That's why the RNS is a lot about the growth, both the news and mags business, but also in the growth verticals in particular. And then we come to think about dividends and share buybacks like the previous question. So our thinking, I don't think has changed since I arrived on that. So the capital allocation policy remains in line with previously communicated. Hopefully, that helps. A few more coming in now. So a good run for the money. I'll stay with these. So what level of interest rate is earned on cash? Yes, we are starting to earn on cash. We have a liquidity facility, which is earning well. We don't disclose the interest rate, but it is helpful. It's worth noting that within the interest cost on the P&L, there's both the interest cost on leases and then the interest cost on the debt. And actually, the large proportion of it is the interest cost on the leases. So whilst we're earning on cash now, that's not dramatically changing the overall interest expense in the P&L. But you can see some movement on that line in the detail. And then just more recently, a DRS question coming in, exactly how does the process work with regards to sort of cans and bottles, how will that function? And is it glass as well?

Okay. That's a good question. So the way to think about it is that the consumer will be charged more for the individual plastic bottle or aluminum or steel can. And they will -- but it's a deposit in effect. So when you then take that product back to a designated returns location, which could be one of our convenience stores or a hospitality venue, you have 1 or 2 options depending on the site. Either you can place it into a machine, which will scan the barcode and produce a credit for you, and you can take that credit -- the paper to the retailer. And as you pay for your goods, they will automatically discount that credit from the bill. Or in some cases, the retailer may decide actually, I don't want to have one of those machines. I'm happy simply to allow the consumer to come up to the counter, hand me the product over, I'll scan it and use an app to provide exactly the same service. But really, the emphasis on the consumer when they bought the product, taking it back to a recycle point and getting the credit for that. And therefore, the consumer is neutral, but it drives up the incentive to have higher levels of recycling of that type of product.

Thank you. That's all the questions that have been pasted so far. So I'll just give a few seconds to see if any more open.

That's great. Thank you for answering all those questions you have from investors. And of course, the company can review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses on the Investor Meet Company platform. Just before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which is particularly important to the company, Jon, could I please just ask you for a few closing comments?

Sure. Thanks, Lilly. Look, we're at the half year. Hopefully, you've heard from Richard and I, we're in a good position. We're on our key numbers, which is always important. The news and magazine market remains resilient and revenues are in line with our strategic forecast. We're on plan from a cost saving perspective as well. So that's all sort of good from a base business perspective. Hopefully, you're encouraged by the sort of growth we're starting to see now in our new verticals, 35% overall and over 50% from the recycled vertical. So that's clearly gaining traction. And in DRS, we don't know whether it's an opportunity for us or not because we have to tender for that business, but we will be tendering for that business, and we think we're a good fit to provide good solutions. So time will tell. Beyond all of that, we're in line with our full year forecast, and we're looking forward to a positive H2. So I'd like to thank everyone for their interest, and thank you for your support.

That's great. Thank you for updating investors today. Can I please ask investors not to close the session as shall now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This only take a few moments to complete and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.