Half Year Review
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REVIEW
The first half of 2009 in the parking sector has been marked by volumes in off street car parks falling and a pattern of significantly improved compliance for on street users.
These changes in customer behaviour have brought with them challenges for the service providers, but it is pleasing to report that first half of 2009 has been an historic one for NSL.
The business has successfully rebranded from its old name NCP Services, and continued to show impressive growth through the first half.
We have also continued our industry-leading retention rate for on-street contracts; with both Manchester City Council and Lancashire County Council contracts being retained in this period. NSL's retention rate for contracts is above 90 per cent, against an industry average of around 30 per cent. In addition, we extended our contract with Rochdale council during the same period.
Meanwhile, NSL Passenger Transport retained its inter-terminal coaching operation at Heathrow and expanded the operation with the acquisition of the forecourt management operation.
The company retained its Investor's in People accreditation for another three years, and also retained its recognition as an IIP Champion, one of just a handful of organisations in the UK who can say this.
And our services continued to garner industry awards. At the British Parking Awards we were shortlisted in six categories, and won in two - the Innovation Award for our groundbreaking Legal Support scheme for CEOs, and our consultancy the Project Centre won three top awards for its redesign of Walworth Road in south London; the Living Streets award at the BPA, the Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement Award at the prestigious National Transport Awards at Grosvenor House, London, and the Walking and Public Realm Award at the London Transport Awards.
OUTLOOK
The remainder of 2009 is likely to show more growth in NSL's business, with the addition of the London Road User Charging operation with IBM going live in November. NSL will be delivering the enforcement part of the operation from two new offices in Coventry. NSL Business Processing is already the UK market leader in providing back office solutions to the parking industry, and the LRUC project will see the size of our operation increase significantly.
Development of our international business for both on-street and of street car parks continues to develop and we are expecting significant new opportunities for growth in the Gulf region throughout 2010.
I also expect the company to focus even more on operational excellence in on street enforcement. Our DVLA operation against untaxed vehicles has helped achieve a 40 per cent reduction in road tax evasion in the past two years, and we have also seen significant rises in compliance with on street parking regulations. We expect these trends to become more marked in the second half of 2009 and on into 2010.
Mark Underwood
Chief Executive Officer
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER'S REVIEW
The Group's financial performance has continued to outperform budget. As at 30 June 2009, we have now seen 12 successive months of over performance. Set out below are some of the key financial highlights
- Completion of bank refinancing for the Group
- Filing of statutory accounts for both 2007 and 2008 (2008 well ahead of schedule)
- Growth in Turnover year on year by 5.3% to £79.0m
- Growth in EBITDA year on year by 57.6% to £5.2m
- Cash well ahead of target resulting in substantial headroom against bank covenants
Our financial K.P.I's are as follows
| Six months ended 30 June | |||
| £m | 2009 | 2008 | Growth % |
| Turnover | 79.0 | 75.0 | 5.3 |
| EBITDAO | 11.1 | 7.9 | 40.5 |
| Overheads | (5.9) | (4.6) | (28.3) |
| EBITDA | 5.2 | 3.3 | 57.6 |
| EBITDA % | 6.6% | 4.4% | |
Steve Dolton
Chief Financial Officer
Notes:
The financial K.P.I's are a summary of the position of the NSL Services Group Ltd (“the Group”) and therefore do not constitute financial statements as defined by section 240 of the Companies Act. The K.P.I's are not audited and do not contain sufficient information to allow a full understanding of the results and state of affairs of the Group. Further as they have been prepared for information purposes only they do not contain the extensive notes normally required under accounting reporting standards.
In preparing these results the accounting policies applied are consistent with those of the annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2008.
This document is for information purposes only and should not be relied upon. The Group gives no warranty or guarantee of the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this document. Accordingly, regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Group and its directors, officers and employees accept no liability of any kind and disclaim all responsibility for the consequences of any person acting or refraining from acting in reliance of this document.
