Northern Foods, the parent company of Green Isle, reported underlying sales growth of 6.5 per cent for the third quarter to end-December, but it warned pre tax profit was flat in the quarter despite the strong sales figures.
It said orders for Christmas were later than anticipated and resulted in under-utilised labour in the early weeks of December, followed by premium time working to cope with the demand right through to Christmas Eve.
In addition, start-up costs at the new ready meals facility in Hull and frozen pizza facility in Longford continued to be a drain on profitability despite sales being ahead of expectations in both factories.
The company said the other companies in the group performed generally well in the quarter.
The company admitted it has found all of its major restructuring projects to be more disruptive than originally anticipated, but said the ultimate returns have generally been higher than forecast.
AFP