My Food Bag to delist from exchange
AUCKLAND: My Food Bag has cut 10% of its ‘‘nonoperational’’ team and plans to delist from the ASX due to ‘‘poor liquidity and low daily trading’’ as net profits plunged 60% in the last 12 months.
The New Zealand mealkit company yesterday posted its fullyear results to March 31, showing net profit after tax down 60.5% on last year at $7.9 million.
My Food Bag’s share price is at $0.2, up 8.11% on Thursday.
The company completed a restructure in March this year which cut 10% of nonoperational staff.
My Food Bag chief executive Mark Winter and chairman Tony Carter said the company planned to cut overheads by delisting from the ASX, ‘‘rightsizing lending facilities’’ and ending an employee share ownership scheme for eligible staff in 2024.
‘‘My Food Bag’s primary or ‘home’ exchange is the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX)’’, Mr Carter said.
He said the ASX listing was a secondary listing.
‘‘If removal from the official list of ASX is approved, the company will continue to be listed on the main board of the NZX and trading on the NZX will continue after the ASX delisting process.’’
Carter added: ‘‘Delisting from the ASX will save the business money and is consistent with the review of our cost base to identify costsaving initiatives.
‘‘Trading in the company’s shares on the ASX has poor liquidity and low daily trading volumes, so the board considers the cost of continuing a listing on the ASX outweighs the benefits.’’
Operating earnings (ebitda) fell 46.5% in the same period to $18.2 million, with revenue down 9.4% at $175.7 million.
Winter and Carter said ebitda was driven by ‘‘diseconomies of scale’’ and the impact of subdued demand.
‘‘Inflationary pressure on households and low consumer confidence have resulted in more subdued demand over the second half of the year,’’ Mr Winter and Mr Carter said.
They said deliveries were down 11.8% on last year with lower active customers and retention rates pulling down revenue.
Mr Winter and Mr Carter said the company delivered more than 15.7 million meals and an order value of $130.11, up 2.7% on $126.63 in the previous period through strong Bargain Box sales.
The company said it would continue a fullyimputed dividend of3c per share after it did not pay out a dividend in the last halfyear.
The dividend was down from 8c per share declared in the last period. The total dividend payout was at 92% of net profit after tax, outside the company’s distribution target of 70%90%.
The board decided not to pay a final dividend for the full year. —