Victoria executive chairman Geoff Wilding has delivered a bullish message to stockholders in results that highlight the cost and transformative impact of some of its biggest acquisitions to date.

Revenue jumped 29 percent to £424.8 million in the year to end March 2018 as it added ceramic tile manufacturers in Spain and Italy to its roster of worldwide flooring companies (see related).

Underlying EBITDA, which strips out one-off costs, debt interest and the non-cash amortisation of acquired intangibles, climbed 42 percent to £64.7 million for the Kidderminster based business.

Net profit — which adds all those costs back in along with others such as tax — declined 32 percent year-on-year to £8.6 million.

"The market opportunity we have before us is absolutely enormous," said Mr Wilding, adding that Victoria's current market share is only 2.5 percent* of the markets in which it operates.

"There is almost unlimited scope for growth — both organically through increasing our market share and expanding our product offering, and, of course, through acquisition, for which we continue to find many promising and high quality opportunities."

Mr Wilding added that Victoria could continue making three or four acquisitions a year and never run out of good opportunities in a lifetime.

Its 2017–18 results highlight the cost of its expansion.

Net cash inflow from operating activities totalled £37 million with the company using a net £316.3 million in investing activities.

That was funded through a near £129 million increase in long-term loans and £178.1 million in fresh equity financing through the issue of new share capital.

It ended March with net debt totalling £258.7 million (2017: £89.6m), comprising cash and equivalents of £53.1 million and total loans of well over £300 million.

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