AGM Nichols’ AGM statement today reports that total revenues in the 3-month period to end-March are down by 5.9%. This is compared to a period last year that would have been largely unaffected by COVID. This comprises a 91.9% decline in Out of Home as customer outlets have been mostly closed, versus a period when they were all open until the very end of March. Q1 is typically the quietest quarter in the year for Out of Home. However, offsetting this the group has seen continued momentum in the Vimto brand in retail (Nielsen figures show +4.9%) as well as growth in International. Comps will change from Q2 As we move through to Q2, the comparatives will start to look very different and sales in the current year will also start to change in mix. As lockdown eases properly in mid-May, we expect the Out of Home operations to start to recover and we anticipate growth over the reduced revenue delivered in FY20 (when revenues were c£119m vs £147m in 2019). However, we do not expect a fuller recovery in top line until FY22E. Broadly in line The Board remarks that it expects PBT to be broadly in line with market expectations assuming no further lockdowns so we make no changes to forecasts. We expect FY21E PBT of £18.6m, EPS of 40.6p. We will revisit our target price as, increasingly, the market is looking through COVID-impacted numbers to the “recovery” year when valuing companies.