Roadside, (AIM: ROAD) announces its audited results for the year to 30 September 2024, following a year in which it has delivered upon its strategy of focusing upon roadside retail through the establishment of a joint venture (“JV’) with Meadow Partners LLP, (“Meadow”).
Financial highlights
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2024 12 months |
2023 15 months |
Change |
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Revenue from continuing operations* (£m) |
0.4 |
0.1 |
+0.3 |
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Operating loss from continuing operations* (£m) |
-1.9 |
-5.3 |
+3.4 |
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Profit/(loss) for the period from discontinued operations** (£m) |
49.4 |
-2.4 |
+51.8 |
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Profit/(loss) after tax (£m) |
43.2 |
-10.2 |
+53.4 |
|
Net increase in cash (£m) |
0.7 |
0.0 |
+0.7 |
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Basic earnings per share (pence) |
30.26 |
-7.00 |
+37.26 |
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Net assets/(liabilities) per share (pence) |
22.87 |
-12.44 |
+35.31 |
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* |
Continuing operations is real estate. Roadside sold Workshop Coffee and wound down Centurian Automotive in the prior year and disposed of Barkby Pubs in the period. The Board continues to assess the best way to maximise the value of the Group’s remaining stake in CSS. Therefore, all of these businesses have been presented as discontinued operations. |
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** |
The profit from discontinued operations includes a £41.0 million fair value gain in relation to the deconsolidation and retained investment in CSS, this is a non cash, accounting and exceptional profit. |
Charles Dickson, Executive Chairman of Roadside, said:
“I am delighted with the significant progress we have made in realigning our business to focus on creating, managing and growing an exciting £250 million portfolio of roadside real estate assets in desirable locations catering for local communities and businesses.
“Over the last 13 months the JV has committed £86 million into real estate assets including the acquisition of 12 Lidl stores under a sale and leaseback agreement with Lidl. We are on target to deploy £250 million by May 2026 and have a large pipeline of potential further acquisitions as we move into 2025.
“Our wholly owned commercial sites in Wellingborough and Maldon are fully let and generating rental income and cash flow.
“During the period we sold 20% of Cambridge Sleep Sciences (“CSS”) to CGV Ventures 1 Ltd (“CGV”) for £16 million, of which £8.5 million of proceeds were received post year end, demonstrating the value of CSS and creating significant liquidity for the Group. The remaining investment in CSS has been revalued resulting in a fair value gain of £41.0 million for shareholders.
“This resulted in an exceptional, non cash accounting profit after tax of £43.2 million in the year and a Net Asset position of £32.9 million.
“We also restructured our debt with the issue of a new £9 million Loan Note and repayment of external and related party borrowings during the year resulting in a reduction in borrowings of £1.0 million, leaving the Group with available liquidity of £8.1 million.
“We look forward to updating our shareholders as we continue to make further progress.”
Operational highlights
Real Estate
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• |
The Group is focussing on building and acquiring a high-quality, substantial portfolio of modern roadside real estate investments. |
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Wellingborough was valued at £3.9 million at the financial year end and has a total contracted rent of £237,000 per annum from tenants including Greggs plc, Formula One Autocentres Ltd., City Plumbing Supplies Holdings Ltd. and C. Brewers & Sons Ltd. |
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Maldon was valued at £4.9 million at the financial year end and has a total contracted rent of £280,000 per annum with contracted tenants being Costa Coffee Ltd., Formula One Autocentres Ltd, Toolstation Ltd. and City Electrical Factors Ltd. |
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During the year, the Company acquired three sites via its joint venture with Meadow in Stoke, Gosport and Coventry. Roadside contributed 3% of the acquisition cost for each site in line with the joint venture agreement and will earn ongoing asset management fees as well as its share of rental income. |
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* |
Post year end, the joint venture agreed to acquire 12 stores from Lidl Great Britain Ltd. for total consideration of £70 million and Brampton Hut services in Cambridgeshire for £4.8 million. |
Discontinued operations
As previously announced in July 2022, the Board committed to dispose of the Group’s non-real estate businesses and investments and has made the following progress in the period under review:
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Roadside sold 20% of CSS’s total share capital in two tranches during the year for a total consideration of £16.0 million, with £7.5 million received during the year and £8.5 million received post year end. The proceeds of the stake sale were used to fund operational costs, repay related party and third party borrowings, leaving the company with £0.6 million of cash as at 23 December 2024 and £7.5 million available from its related party financing facilities. The Company’s remaining stake is expected to be sold when conditions enable maximum shareholder value to be achieved. As a result, Roadside maintains an investment in CSS but no longer controls the company. Therefore, the results of CSS are no longer consolidated within the Group accounts but are treated as an associate investment held for sale for accounting purposes. This presentation resulted in a fair value gain of £41.0 million recognised in the year within discontinued operations.
CSS launched its smart pillow in October 2024 at Highpoint, Carolina, USA. The first production run of 2,000 units was shipped in December 2024 from China and the order book for its smart pillows is growing at pace. The company is confident of meeting orders to sell 25,000 units by March 2025 thus triggering an additional payment of £1.5 million from CGV Ventures as per the Share Purchase Agreement of the second stake sale. CSS continues to grow its licensing opportunities and expects to start shipping the smart mattress in the second half of 2026.
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Roadside’s pub business was disposed of during the year and all other investments, save for CSS, have been disposed of or wound down in order to focus on real estate. |
The results of Centurian Automotive, Barkby Pubs and Cambridge Sleep Sciences are presented as discontinued operations in the results for the year to 30 September 2024. The prior year comparative also includes the result of Workshop Coffee within discontinued operations, which was sold in that year.
Cash and liquidity
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The Group had £0.1 million of cash as at the year end. |
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The Group improved its liquidity following the issue of a loan note in April 2024 and by refinancing and extending its debt facilities alongside the proceeds from the CSS stake sale. |
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Following the receipt of cash from the CSS stake sale, the Group repaid a portion of its related party borrowings in accordance with the terms of the agreement signed on 24 April 2024 and therefore as at 23 December 2024 the Company has £0.6 million of cash and £7.5 million available from its financing facilities, which can be drawn until March 2026. |
In accordance with AIM Rule 20 and 26, the annual report is available to view on the Company’s website: https://www.roadsideplc.com/investors
Enquiries:
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Roadside Real Estate PLC Charles Dickson, Executive Chairman c/o Montfort
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Montfort Olly Scott Isabella Leathley
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+44 (0)78 1234 5205 +44 (0)74 7168 7266 |
