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Stobart Group makes £58 million loss as it expands its airports business
Costs weigh heavily on firm relaunching Carlisle as commercial destination
Company Results & Forecasts
Loganair has launched flights to Scotland from Stobart Group's London Southend hub
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Carlisle-based Stobart Group Limited, the regional aviation, energy and civil engineering group, announced turbulent results as it exited Stobart Air and its aircraft leasing business and took a 30% stake in Connect Airways, owners of Flybe.
The company has been working to streamline its business activity and has made a raft of changes since Warwick Brady, the chief executive officer, took over in July 2017, while Scottish veteran director David Shearer is set to join as chairman.
- In July 2019, the first commercial flights for over 25 years will take off from Stobart-owned Carlisle Lake District Airport, and Stobart have become the operators for Durham Tees Valley Airport. Its principal asset, London Southend Airport , saw a 33% increase in passenger numbers. EasyJet flew around one million passengers to and from Southend in 2018. Ryanair flights commenced in April, and Scottish flier Loganair's flights in May 2019.
Group revenue in the full year to 28 February, from continuing operations increased by 39% to £146.9 million adjusted to £105.4 million, while adjusted underlying EBITDA from the main operating divisions, Aviation and Energy, was up 75% to £24.1 million. Stobart Energy delivered a 51% increase in the volume of biomass fuel supplied to renewable energy plants, equivalent to 1.3 million tonnes. This increase is a result of more renewable energy plants reaching full contractual operational volumes.
However, group loss was £58.2 million, included £10.2 million of costs in Aviation (related to airline marketing) and Energy (associated with maintaining the supply chain during third-party plant commission delays), and £5.2 million of legal costs mainly associated to the shareholder dispute with former CEO Andrew Tinkler.
The group made an overall loss from discontinued operations of £15.5m, including the profit on disposal of Everdeal (Stobart Air) of £25.9 million, which was then reduced by the impact of losses of £31.7 million. Operating profits in Stobart Air and Propius totalling £2.6 million were then reduced by a lease provision of £12.3 million associated with Propius. £38.4 million (2018: £27.3 milion) was realised from the sale of non-operating assets.
The sale of Eddie Stobart Logistics plc shares raised £123.9 million and £52.5 million was returned to shareholders through dividends. This was largely paid from non-core asset sales of £38.4 million and debt facilities, leading to an increase in net debt to £83.1million.