27th Jan 2015 08:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish convenience food business Greencore Group PLC Tuesday said it continued to see good revenue growth in the food-to-go market in the first quarter of its new financial year, which drove a 4.4% increase in like-for-like sales during the period.
The group recorded revenue of GBP331.9 million for the 13 weeks to December 26, up 3.6% on the prior year, and 4.5% on a like-for-like basis.
The growth was driven by its convenience foods business, where revenue rose 4.9% to GBP320.4 million, up 5.4% on a like-for-like basis. In the UK, like-for-like revenue was 3.6% higher than the year before, although it said the overall UK grocery market remained "challenging" in the quarter, citing negative same store volumes and price deflation.
"Against this backdrop, our key chilled markets performed well with continued good growth in the food-to-go market and a positive performance in the chilled ready meals market," the company said in a statement.
In the US, the group said revenue was up more than 34% year-on-year, with a 19.5% increase in sales on a like-for-like basis.
"This was driven principally by the continued roll-out of new products with a key customer," it said.
Greencore said its small ingredients and property division, which represents roughly less than 5% of the group's overall sales, recorded revenue of GBP11.5 million in the quarter, a 24% decline on the prior year's figures. The group attributed the fall to a sharp fall in the commodity price of edible oil.
"Notwithstanding the challenges of the UK grocery retail market, the business has had a good start to the year with encouraging growth against a strong comparator period last year. We remain confident in our ability to deliver performance in line with market expectations," the company said in a statement.
The group said it remains well placed with "strong positions" in growing product categories, adding that the integration of its new Jacksonville business and the first expansion phase to its Northampton sandwich facility are now close to completion.
It also said that its financial position remains strong with "good headroom" within its existing debt facilities.
Greencore shares were up 0.9% at 290.62 pence in early trading Tuesday.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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