Earnings Call: H2 2025

Apr 28, 2026

Summary

FY2025 revenue rose 9% to £163m and profit before tax increased 56% to £3.1m. Trading was up 15% in January–March, with April momentum sustained; new and expanded capacity supports growth toward £250m revenue.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Likewise Group PLC final results investor presentation. Throughout this recorded meeting, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions can be submitted anytime by the Q&A tab, just situated in the right-hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your question and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself, however, we can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we would like to submit the following poll. I would now like to hand you over to Tony Brewer, CEO. Good afternoon, sir. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, and welcome everybody, and thank you for joining this presentation this afternoon. First of all, the picture you can see on the slide is our Leeds distribution center, which we moved into in 2021, and really that was the foundation to accelerate the development of Likewise Floors. You can see the trucks outside that building, and that transfer trucks literally around the U.K. Trucks going to Glasgow, to Newcastle, to Manchester, Birmingham, to Sidcup in London, and to Sudbury. The development of that business, as I say, was really the foundation to progress Likewise Floors. So we now have 13 distribution centers around the U.K., with the addition of the building we announced last week that we had acquired a second distribution hub in Leeds. We have 87 suppliers across our various product categories, whereby that is carpet, residential vinyl, artificial grass, laminate, luxury vinyl tile, underlayments for residential carpet, adhesive, leveling compounds, commercial flooring, and rugs and mats. Those are sold through our 108 management and sales executives across the country, and we are increasing our delivery fleet, and during the course of this year, that will certainly exceed 160 vehicles. Our 580 staff, a huge proportion of them have longstanding experience in the flooring industry. We continue to develop our presence in the marketplace with point of sale in new products, making sure the independent retailer and flooring contractor is at the forefront of all floor covering products, and that is through over 7,000 customers. We are rapidly approaching that GBP 200 million sales revenue target that we set ourselves. I think now we have an infrastructure that can take us towards GBP 250 million and beyond. In terms of the results we have announced this morning, our sales revenue up 9% to GBP 163 million. Slight improvement in the gross margin of 0.4%. EBITDA increasing from GBP 8.8 million to GBP 10.4 million. Most importantly, profit before tax up 56% to GBP 3.1 million. On the back of that, we have proposed to increase the final dividend by 10%, which increased the total dividend for the year by 10%. The current trading in January to March up 15% with April very much maintaining a similar momentum. The key figure in the balance sheet, is the improving asset base with now property assets of GBP 31.6 million, which is GBP 5.1 million of fixed borrowing. We've said for a number of years, as we've developed this management team, this is the key to how the business is developed and gives us the foundations for growth in the future. We've got really good people, young people coming through the business, learning and understanding all the dynamics of the logistics, the IT, product, having supplier relations, customer relations. What's even more encouraging is we've got many other really good young people that are challenging to be on this page and certainly will be in the future. That gives very much the future of the business. As I say, each of those people effectively undertook an apprenticeship in the flooring industry, understanding all aspects of the business, and creating excellent teams around the U.K. In terms of our supplier base, the largest producer is from Holland, followed by the U.K., particularly in the commercial sector, product from Belgium, from Turkey, Germany, and across into the Far East. You probably appreciate, obviously, with the awful war in Iran currently, there is inevitably going to be price increases due to increases in raw materials. We're discussing that with our suppliers and are positioning our product to be increased from the 1st of May, but we're very careful in securing our supply chain through the relationship we have had with suppliers over many years. Our excellent sales teams, who are 108 people, are positioning those products into our retailing commercial customers on a daily basis, making sure our customers are very much at the forefront of all new flooring products. This just gives an indication of the different products through Likewise Floors. That's engineered wood, artificial grass, various types of luxury vinyl tile, laminate products, sheet vinyl, and of course, carpet being the biggest individual proportion of our business. Through Valley Wholesale Carpets, traditionally a carpet business, but now residential vinyl, laminate, and we'll soon be launching luxury vinyl tile into the Valley business. That gives you the proportion where, as I said, carpet is the biggest individual part of the business, but across all those flooring sectors of residential vinyl, underlay for residential carpet, laminate, luxury vinyl tile, artificial grass, rugs and mats, and of course, commercial flooring and adhesives and leveling compounds. Business to Business Website, which we launched in 2022, is very important to us. That allows our customers, our trade customers, with a username and password to access our stock files at any time during the day and place orders. It's a very important service we provide to our customer base. Also we've now launched a product information website. Given the profile of Likewise with our delivery trucks, the public company, our PR, our social media. This means that consumers can come onto the website, can search products. There's, of course, no pricing, there's no contact us. It wholly pushes the consumer to the individual retailer that's closest to them, that has the display stand of the particular product that that consumer is looking for. So it just helps provide a channel of business to our retail customer base. You can see from the sales revenue, as we've said, 9% up last year. You can see the crimson line for 2025, a strong spring, slightly softer in the summer months, but still year-on-year increases where we had that particularly hot summer and that crescendo towards the end of the year, October, November being the busiest trading period. You will see from the orange line at the top that the year has started well, as we said, 15% up in the first four months. So a very strong start and we are very optimistic. Notwithstanding the challenge ahead of us with the worldwide uncertainty, but we believe we are very well-placed to navigate those challenging months ahead. Our property, as I mentioned, we acquired an additional site in Leeds last week, which is principally to hold incoming containers and pallets of luxury vinyl tile from the Far East and also laminate from Europe. That helps our supply chain management very importantly, to funnel those containers and pallets into our network. You can see from the dates demonstrated here that with the exception of the business and building we acquired in 2018, that the whole infrastructure has been put together since 2021, when we moved into that distribution center in Leeds. We now have six freehold properties valued at GBP 31.6 million, with just GBP 5.1 million of fixed debt, which gives us opportunities to extend that footprint of properties. We have an investment potentially in the East Midlands where we have agreed to acquire a site and we are just progressing that through the legal channels. But we would again look to own the freehold of that site, to give us a strengthening balance sheet and allow us for future investment. That really demonstrates that network throughout the U.K., from those sites with that center in Birmingham and if we can deflect some of that activity away into the East Midlands, we believe the business can go from the run rate that we currently are towards GBP 200 million, towards GBP 250 million sales revenue and further on to GBP 300 million. This is the network through Valley Wholesale Carpets with their main distribution hub being in Erith in Southeast London and then servicing the Midlands and the North through the distribution center in Derby. That really demonstrates our overall coverage and comprehensive coverage now of the U.K. market. This slide really is important in terms of showing our cutting capacity. So we launched a second shift into our Glasgow distribution center last year. We invested in a new cutting machine in Leeds, which was installed during the Christmas break and New Year break. We have capacity with the additional cutting table in Derby. The Newport extension is very much on schedule to be operational in Q3 of this year, and as I mentioned, that new investment in the East Midlands to be operational realistically into Q4. This just demonstrates the Newport extension, which currently is 35,000 sq ft extending to 55,000 sq ft. So I think the key for us is that we have excellent operational management, sales teams, and staff throughout our businesses. We are, as I have said, carefully discussing and negotiating with our suppliers what we need to do with prices into the spring, but there will be price increases from the 1st of May. But we believe we've got very long-standing and strong supplier relationships and also very importantly with our customers as well. As I said, the extra capacity that we have in Leeds, Newport and Derby can certainly take us towards GBP 250 million sales revenue. And we're looking at that future investment opportunity as we continue to take market share. And I think we are very much poised to get towards GBP 250 million sales and that operational gearing and subsequent return on sales that that will deliver. Many thanks. Fantastic. Thank you very much indeed for the presentation, Tony. Of course. Ladies and gentlemen, do please continue to submit your questions just using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of the screen. I just want to take a moment to review those questions we've had in today. Of course, just a reminder that recording of the presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A can be accessed via your investor dashboard. Tony, as you can see, we've had a number of questions throughout today's presentation, and thank you everyone for submitting those. Perhaps we can start with the first one. Well, it's probably two actually I can tie together here. Question, really, you're saying that there's a lot going on in your market. How do you look to take further market share? And a question that's kind of tied into that from Mark as well. Thank you, Mark. What proportion of the 15% growth in 2026 come from your competitors divested unprofitable customers? How do you see that impacting profitability? Okay. Well, I think it's the whole spectrum of how we take market share and how we develop the business is, first of all, having that strong relationship with the suppliers. We, as a team, Adrian, John, and myself, particularly, are working with our suppliers within Likewise Floors, and Simon within the Valley business, working very closely with our suppliers to make sure we're agreeing new products and we're getting those product launches in a timely manner. We have them well merchandised throughout the business. And those sales teams, which we're invested now 108 salespeople, making sure those products are taken to our customers, and display stands are installed, and we have the correct vehicle to be able to sell to the consumer. It's all of those factors. We're not targeting any particular one part of the market. It is making sure we have bigger and better presence in independent retailers and flooring contractors. Fantastic. Thank you. Question here as well. Obviously, you have talked about 200, 250 million for that revenue target. In the current environment, what gives you that real confidence in achieving that and exceeding it? I think there is obviously some uncertainties in the market as we speak, and then the bigger worldwide issues, of course, and what effect that has on consumer confidence and consumer spending is difficult to predict in the short term. What we are wholly confident in is we have the right people, we have the infrastructure, we have the right suppliers and customers to be able to continue to develop our business. There may be some short-term hurdles to overcome, but we are in a good position to be able to do that. For the medium to long term, we will be a continually increasing player in the U.K. flooring market. That is great. Thanks, Tony. Question around the property here. With a large property base, how do you look to release value from that? I guess it is really just looking at the balance between fixed assets and operating. I think with the cost of leasehold property, we would much prefer to own our properties. It's far more cost-effective, we believe. It's about putting capacity in for the future developments for the business. I think where we've bought the property recently, we've agreed to buy a further property, as I said, in the East Midlands, and we're considering other investments. We have the support of our principal bankers to be able to do that, and we believe it strengthens our balance sheet rather than have the operating leases, which are extremely expensive. Fantastic. Thank you. Question around AI. Are you using that in the business? How are you looking at utilizing that and making things, I guess, more efficient? Good question. Yes, we've had a number of meetings with our IT providers. We are at the moment having some various enhancements to our operating systems, but AI is certainly on the list in terms of improving our supply chain management, and also the efficiency, wherever we can, of our salespeople. That's great. Thank you. Question here from James. Thanks for the update. We've seen a steep rise in fuel prices recently. How exposed is the business to this? For sure, there is an on cost with running 160 vehicles, particularly in diesel. There is a small on cost with the cost of the cars, but the bigger cost is with the diesel. We are managing that. We have acknowledged there needs to be price increases, and that is both the input cost of raw materials and subsequent finished product, but also to be fair to cover our increased cost of operating. Super. One here which I guess looks at really the key operational leverage. What factors can you see really driving that moving forward? Obviously, you are seeing that come through. Is everything going to continue going, do you expect, or a bit of headwind in there as well? Well, we have set out to get a return on sales of 5%. We are not there currently and a little way from there, but we have equally been investing heavily in the infrastructure, the property, all the things that go with that, the racking, the cutting tables, the delivery vehicles, and also obviously our salespeople and staff throughout the business. We believe as the business continues to scale up, that we will see the operational gearing as we have mentioned, and then we will get an improved return on sales. That is important because that then allows us to invest further in the business to the benefit of all our stakeholders, whether that be suppliers, customers, and the business as a whole. Fantastic. Nigel, thank you as well for your next question. Have you considered moving to international presence and operations or further M&A? No, our focus is very much the U.K. We don't have any plans to move outside the U.K. We see ourselves continuing to take market share. We had a goal originally of 10% market share. I think we're probably there and probably exceeding that now. We don't want to dilute that by spreading overseas, so that's not on our agenda. In terms of M&A, I'd say never say never, but we're not particularly active. I think we want to grow the business organically. We had the various acquisitions, principally the original acquisition, of course, with the matting business, followed by Heatseam Factory Flooring, A&A in Dalton, then very importantly, the acquisition of Valley Wholesale Carpets. That's given us a really good foundation to now expand our business organically. If the right acquisition presented itself, of course we would consider it, but it's not a key focus for us. That's fantastic. Thank you. I think you've covered off all those questions you can, and thank you to all the investors for submitting those today. Just a reminder that we'll be able to review all questions submitted, and we'll publish those responses back on the platform. Tony, just before redirecting investors back to give you some feedback, I wonder if you could just give us a few closing comments, please. Thank you. Well, I think we've demonstrated, we set about a number of years ago with a target to get up to 200 million and beyond. We're achieving that and pretty much there. We've got foundations to be a much bigger business, explain that we can certainly go to 250 million with the infrastructure we now have, particularly with Leeds, Newport, and Derby operational, and it's what other opportunities present themselves and how much market share we can take. But I'd like to thank you all for listening to the presentation. I'm sure there's a number of investors and suppliers and perhaps customers, hopefully. So thanks for all your support. Fantastic, Tony. Thanks indeed for updating investors today. I please ask investors not to close this session as you'll be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order the team can better understand your views and expectation. This only takes a few moments to complete and is greatly valued by the company. On behalf of Tony and the Likewise Group PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That concludes today's session, and good afternoon.