Sandwich maker Greencore said it was on track to meet market expectations for the financial year, despite a fall in reported revenue.
In a trading update for the 13 weeks ended December 29th, the group said revenue was £441.3 million (€518 million), down almost 5 per cent on a reported basis year on year but flat when the impact of the disposal of Trilby Trading Ltd was taken into account. Reported revenue in the food-to-go category was almost 1 per cent higher at £293.7 million, with other convenience categories down 14 per cent to £147.6 million, with the sector the most impacted by the Trilby disposal.
Like-for-like revenue was almost 6 per cent higher across the board, Greencore said.
Manufactured volumes for the quarter declined 4.8 per cent as the company decided to exit a number of contracts that it considered were delivering suboptimal returns in the previous year. Taking the impact of those out of the figures, like-for-like volumes were 0.5 per cent higher, with volumes picking up the pace to 5.6 per cent in the four weeks to December 24th.
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Chief executive Dalton Philips said he was “extremely encouraged” by the strong start to the year. “Our progress as a business has been delivered through continued effective operational and commercial initiatives. As detailed in November, this has supported improved profit conversion and a strong profit out-turn in the quarter. We are committed to continuing to drive profitability through commercial discipline and are investing in several initiatives to develop a robust platform for future growth,” he said.
“While we remain mindful of the seasonally important second half of the year, we are confident that the group will deliver a full year out-turn in line with current market expectations.”
Looking ahead, inflationary pressures due to raw materials and energy are easing, but wage inflation will continue, Greencore said, with the group putting in place a number of measures to manage the ongoing increases.
The group will report its interim results in May.
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