Good point mate although on a quick glance at the presentation surrounding the purchase I thought I noticed as part of the acquisition EV accrued from 3 November, (settlement 28 November), which I took to interpret that trading since 3 November accrued to VIL, maybe I got the wrong end of the stick but either way you're quite right that it includes only a very short period of trading within that 6 month period. (Not sure why I didn't realise that yesterday...I must be getting old :)
My thoughts on my morning walk today were that the purchase at 5 times EDITDA given the known circumstances surrounding the drink driving law change...I really think they paid too much for it.
Maybe 4 times EBITDA with the possibility to earn-out another multiple, (subject to 12 months subsequent trading and depending on the impact of the law change), would have been more appropriate...certainly it would appear that way now. Either way they used a ton of debt for this acquisition which means this isn't a stock doesn't suit my reasonably conservative risk profile.