Macfarlane Group PLC recently held its Annual General Meeting where it provided a Trading Update covering 2023 to date.
- Macfarlane has made a solid start to 2023, with Q1 sales and profits ahead of the same period in 2022.
- Packaging Distribution sales grew by 4% in Q1 2023, with the benefit of the acquisition of PackMann in May 2022 and new business growth being partly offset by continuing weak demand from the e-commerce retail sector.
- Manufacturing Operations grew sales by 14% in Q1 2023, with good recovery in certain industrial markets enhanced by the acquisition of A.E. Sutton Limited in March 2023.
- Macfarlane has completed two quality acquisitions during the first four months of 2023, the latest being the acquisition of Gottlieb Packaging Materials, a protective packaging distributor based in Manchester.
- Net bank debt at the end Q1 2023 was £0.1m, an improvement on the position at 31 December 2022 (£3.4m). This remains well within the Group’s bank facilities of £30m and related covenants, committed until December 2025.
- Macfarlane continues to focus on organic growth in attractive end markets supplemented by quality acquisitions, strong cash generation and targeting a progressive dividend.
- Our expectations for the full year are unchanged.
“The growth in both sales and profits that we have achieved in the first quarter of 2023 continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy, the quality of our people and the resilience of our business model,” said Aleen Gulvanessian, Chair, Macfarlane Group.
