Vasanta are pleased to report another year of profit improvement in 2012. EBITDA increased by 23% on the previous year to £5.3m.

Turnover was up £4.5m for the year at £388m, a good performance in the light of ongoing challenging market conditions and the adverse impact of the Group’s decision to cease direct sales via the Caboodle website and to mid market customers.

VOW continued to gain market share and grew by 5% in the year. Supplies Team sales were adversely affected by lower demand from the public sector and local authorities. By product category, our enlarged range of facilities supplies products showed double digit growth, traditional products reported good growth and computer consumables were flat.

Gross profit reflected a change in sales mix towards lower margin, lower cost to serve customers, and decreased by £1.2m. This was, however, more than offset by mix and efficiency savings in logistics and also central cost savings, resulting in an EBITDA improvement of £1m.

In Q3 2012 we successfully restructured our balance sheet, reducing debt levels by around £20m. This has been well received by credit insurers and vendors, and leaves the Group with a healthy balance sheet, sensible cash headroom and positive reserves.

Our decision to move to a new invoice financing facility with PNC/ABN was made to support anticipated sales growth in FY13 and beyond, and this has been vindicated with FY13 August YTD sales 6.5% up on prior year, with VOW notably over 9% higher. As a result, we expect to deliver a further significant increase in EBITDA this year.

Commenting on the results, Robert Baldrey, Vasanta Group CEO noted:
“During 2012 we established good sales momentum which has gained pace in 2013. We strengthened our balance sheet significantly and continued to improve our service levels whilst reducing operating costs. We are confident that we will deliver further profit growth in 2013, and with the continued support of Endless LLP we are extremely well positioned for the future.”