*FY25 UNDERLYING EBITDA GROWTH OF 10.3% TO €865M, REFLECTING A 100 BASIS POINT Y-O-Y GROSS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
*FY25 REVENUE GROWTH OF 8.7% TO €4,523M, WITH RETURN TO POSITIVE LFL SALES OF 2.6% (EXCLUDING FMCG +4.0%)
*FY25 UNDERLYING NET EARNINGS GROWTH OF 19.7% TO €219M REFLECTING FOCUS ON IMPROVING EBITDA CONVERSION
*CONFIRM FY26 UNDERLYING EBITDA EXPECTED TO GROW AT LEAST 9% Y-O-Y; UNDERLYING NET EARNINGS TO EXCEED 25%
*STRONG FREE CASH GENERATION OF €334M FACILITATES AN INCREASE IN DIVIDEND PAYOUT RATIO TO 25% (FROM 20%) LEADING TO A 57% GROWTH IN FY25 DIVIDEND TO 9.6 CENTS (FY24: 6.2 CENTS), IN ADDITION TO THE €50M SHARES REPURCHASED IN Q4 FY25 AND A SECOND TRANCHE OF €50M CURRENTLY BEING EXECUTED
*MID-TERM GUIDANCE RECONFIRMED ON REVENUE AND EBITDA, WITH UPGRADED TARGETS FOR GROSS MARGIN AND UNLEVERED FREE CASH FLOW
*EXPECT AT LEAST 15% UNDERLYING NET EARNINGS CAGR
*STRATEGIC RETURN TO CORE PEPCO MODEL OF CLOTHING AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE DURING FY25
*PEPCO SAYS GROUP EXPECTS TO GENERATE FY26 REVENUE GROWTH OF 6% TO 8%
*GROUP OPENED 247 NET NEW STORES IN FY25 (FY24: 379) LEADING TO TOTAL OF 4,359 STORES AT YEAR-END
*IS TARGETING APPROXIMATELY 250 NET NEW STORES ACROSS THE GROUP IN FY26
*IN FIRST FINANCIAL QUARTER-TO-DATE (1 OCT. TO 13 DEC. 2025), PEPCO LFL REVENUES WERE +3.9% EXCLUDING FMCG (LFL OF +0.3% INCLUDING FMCG)
*IN Q1 TO DATE GROUP LFL REVENUES (INCLUDING DEALZ) WERE +3.0% EXCLUDING FMCG (LFL -0.3% INCLUDING FMCG)
((Reuters Investor Briefs; email: reutersinvestor.briefs@thomsonreuters.com))
Source Date/Time = 17-DEC-202505:54:14.037 GMT