Izoman schreef op 25 maart 2021 15:30:
JDE Peet's FY20 Results Show Resilience; Deleveraging Accelerates
Wed 24 Mar, 2021 - 1:12 PM ET
Fitch Ratings-Milan/Paris/London-24 March 2021: JDE Peet N.V. (JDEP; BBB-/Stable) has demonstrated the resilience of its business model during the Covid-19 pandemic-related crisis in 2020 which, in turn, has confirmed its investment-grade rating status, Fitch Ratings says in a new report.
In the fiscal year ended December 2020 (FY20), the resilience of the company's revenue came from increasing in-home consumption and premiumisation that almost fully offset a material reduction in out-of-home coffee consumption caused by lockdowns and social restrictions, demonstrating the benefits of a diversified channel mix. JDEP was thus able to maintain strong cash flow generation, with Fitch's preliminary estimate of free cash flow (FCF) at above 9% in FY20, which is solid for its rating.
We believe that JDEP will continue to generate strong margins in FY21 despite additional marketing investments, leading to FFO net leverage declining to below 4.0x by end-2021, which is aligned with its 'BBB-' rating. We believe that business diversification, combined with strong growth prospects in emerging markets and/or underpenetrated markets, such as the U.S., will continue to contribute to superior cash flow generation, reflecting good organic deleveraging capabilities.
We do not expect JDEP's dividend policy to constrain deleveraging, while the recently announced dividend of EUR1.40 per share for 2020 is aligned with our expectations of a prudent financial policy.
Fitch's report "Spotlight: JDE Peet's Resilience to Pandemic" is available or via the above link or at
www.fitchratings.com