Autogrill: profit soars, dividend rises to €0,16

The news was well received by investors in Piazza Affari, where the stock is on the rise – Revenue and Ebitda are also growing – The dividend rises by 33,3% compared to 2015, with a payout ratio of 41%.

Autogrill closes 2016 with a net profit up 54% and a turnover of over 4,5 billion. By virtue of the results achieved, the board of directors decided to propose a dividend of 0,16 euro per share, up 33,3% compared to 2015.

Going into detail, the net result recorded a growth of 53,9% to 98,2 million, while turnover increased by 4,6% at constant exchange rates, to 4,519 billion euros (4,534 million the consensus estimate) mainly thanks to the contribution of North America and the International area. Revenue on a like-for-like basis recorded +3,1%.

Ebitda was also up sharply, reaching 411,6 million euros, +10,5% compared to 373,5 million in 2015, also thanks to the capital gain from the sale of the French stations business (14,7 million EUR). Excluding the latter, the Ebitda margin improved by 0,2 percentage points, going from 8,6% to 8,8%. Ebit also did well (201 million, +32,5% at constant exchange rates) which also benefited from the decrease in depreciation and amortization.

Financial debt as at 31 December 2016 amounted to 578 million compared to 629 million in 2015.

Thanks to the excellent results achieved over the years, Autogrill's board of directors has decided to propose to the shareholders' meeting to allocate the net profit for the year of 36.455.088 in full to dividends. For the distribution of the dividend, equal to 0,16 euro per share (+33,3% compared to 2015, payout ratio of 41%), for a total of 40.704.000 euro, reserves of profits for 4.248.912 euro will be distributed. The coupon detachment will take place on June 19th with record date on the 20th and payment from the 21st.

The board of directors also approved a new company policy according to which the objective will be to distribute, each year, an entirely cash dividend per share at least in line with that of the previous year, with a payout ratio between 40% and 50% of the consolidated net profit.

The news was well received by the investors of Piazza Affari. Less than an hour after the closing of the stock exchanges, the share rose by 1,85% to 8,53 euros.