11th Sep 2018 09:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hilton Food Group PLC said Tuesday it is confident in the company's future growth after posting an increase in profit and revenue for the first half of the year.
For the 28 weeks to July 15, the food packaging firm posted pretax profit up 14% to GBP21.0 million from GBP18.4 million a year ago. This was as revenue jumped by 25% to GBP863.6 million from GBP690.7 million.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased to GBP35.5 million from GBP29.6 million in the comparative year ago period, "broadly" reflecting the new Seachill, business which was acquired in November 2017 and has "delivered on expectations", Hilton Food said.
Hilton Food agreed to buy Icelandic Group UK Ltd, a chilled fish processor that trades as Seachill, in October last year for GBP80.8 million, paying for it with a GBP55.9 million share placing.
Meanwhile volumes, including Australian and Portuguese joint ventures, increased 13% to 181,255 tonnes from 160,848 tonnes a year prior.
Chairman Robert Watson said: "Hilton has continued to deliver on its strategies to build a significantly bigger more diversified business. We achieved strong volume and profit growth during the period including the integration of Seachill and the launch of a fresh food offering in Central Europe.
"We remain committed to growing our business through innovation and product development as well as continuing to explore opportunities to expand the business both at home and abroad."
Hilton Food upped its interim dividend by 12% to 5.6 pence from 5.0p a year prior.
Looking ahead, the company said it continues to develop its business and "deliver year-on-year volume growth through focusing on quality and value for money for the consumer".
Hilton Food said it is "well equipped" for future growth and expects results for the entire financial year to be in line with management's views.
Shares in the company were trading 1.5% higher at 954.00 pence each.
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