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Strong Heating Oil Performance Drives DCC Profits
18th May 2010
The UK's largest fuel distributor, Republic of Ireland based DCC plc has reported a 12.8% increase in operating profits to €192.8m on a constant currency basis, for the year ending March 2010.
Pre-tax profits for the year rose to €164.9m while revenues rose by 10.8% to €6.7 billion, bolstered by a strong performance at DCC Energy. Total operating revenues increased by 10.8% to €6,725 million on a constant currency basis.
The acquisitive company reported that DCC Energy, saw another year of operating profit growth, driven by significant development activity in the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Acquisitions to the year ending March 2010 included Bayfords in Northern England, Brogans Fuels in Scotland, online Heating Oil Price Comparison website Boilerjuice.com and Shell Direct's operations in Austria and Denmark. Since the year end, DCC Energy has also acquired the business of F Peart which operates from 4 locations in Northern England. Operating profit at the Division increased by 19.6% on a constant currency basis to €113.1m
Elsewhere in the group, IT and entertainment supplier DCC Sercom also performed well, on the back of strong growth in its distribution businesses in the UK, whilst DCC Healthcare also performed well. However the picture and DCC's Environmental and Food & Beverage Divisions was more mixed, with both operations experiencing challenging trading conditions and a decline in operating profits during the year.
Commenting on the outlook for this year, a DCC Spokesperon said, "The outlook for 2011 is framed against the continuing uncertain economic outlook and an assumption that the weather pattern will not be as favourable as it was in each of the last two financial years."
