Boparan - comment

The Q3FY24 results were stronger than expected as Boparan once more produced the proverbial chicken from a hat in a refinance year. We still expect the refinance in the Autumn, but Boparan may choose to go before the summer. On an LTM basis, EBITDA exceeds £150m, well ahead of the £135m run rate used in the previous refi and will allow the company to market a headline net leverage figure of 3.1x. Q4 margins will be lower as the positive impact from Q4FY23 drops out. EBITDA of 5.7% (£45.2m) in the quarter was 200bp ahead of the prior year. Free Cash flow of £33m allowed the repayment of the £30m RCF drawings. There is a call at 1200 BST today, and we will update our model afterwards.