Victoria PLC announced that the group's underlying profits before tax will be comfortably ahead of current consensus market expectations for the financial year ended 1 April 2017. The group's performance has benefited from operational synergies following the integration of recent acquisitions in the UK and Australia, which have continued to positively impact gross profit margins and overheads throughout the current financial year. Further improvements are expected in the coming financial year as the group benefits from the further expertise and input of Philippe Hamers, the new group chief executive, who started with Victoria on 20 March 2017.