Bunzl plc says its pre-tax profit climbed by 23% in 2020

Bunzl plc (LON: BNZL) said on Monday that in 2020, its pre-tax profit saw a 23% annualised growth on the back of robust revenue. The company expressed confidence that performance was likely to sustain momentum in 2021.

Bunzl shares were reported roughly 4% down in premarket trading on Monday but regained the entire intraday loss on market open. Including the price action, the stock is now exchanging hands at a per-share price of £22.57 after recovering from a low of £12.77 per share in March 2020.

Bunzl reports £10.11 billion of revenue in 2020

Bunzl said that its profit before tax in 2020 came in at £555.7 million. In comparison, its pre-tax profit had registered at a lower £453.3 million in the previous year. In the fiscal third quarter (Q3), the London-based company had recorded an 8.8% increase in its revenue at constant exchange rates.

The distribution and outsourcing company valued its revenue in the recently concluded year at £10.11 billion versus the year-ago figure of £9.33 billion. Bunzl attributed the growth in its annual revenue to a significantly higher demand for COVID-19-related products, including masks, gloves, disinfectants, and sanitisers. Sales for other products, however, was under pressure in 2020.

On an adjusted basis, the UK company reported £715.6 million of full-year pre-tax profit, compared to £578.2 million in 2019. In separate news from the United Kingdom, insurer Aviva announced a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Bunzl declares 38.3 pence a share of final dividend

Bunzl’s board announced 38.3 pence per share of final dividend on Monday – an increase from 35.8 pence per share in the previous year. The total per-share dividend for 2020 stood at 54.1 pence.

The British multinational forecasts robust growth in its revenue this year. Bunzl acknowledged that sales of Coronavirus-related products might settle down in 2021, but a recovery in sales of other products, it added, will more than offset this decline.

In the last 14 months, Bunzl has completed three acquisitions, namely Deliver Net, Disposable Discounter, and Pinnacle, with revenues of £20 million, £18 million, and £11 million, respectively.

Bunzl performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of close to 15%. At the time of writing, the British firm is valued at £7.46 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 19.86.