10th Sep 2013 08:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hilton Food Group PLC Tuesday said sales and profits increased in the first half of the year, as its new joint venture in Australia is progressed well and growth picked up in Europe. Hilton Food said meat prices have recovered, and it had successfully introduced new product lines into its Dutch business.
The specialist retail meat packing business, which is engaged in retail meat packing for international food retailers, including Tesco, Ahol and Coop Danmark, increased its interim dividend by 7.4% to 3.65 pence per share.
It also said that its balance sheet remains strong, and as a result of strong cash generation, it managed to reduce its net debt to GBP1.6 million from GBP14.9 million a year earlier.
The group said that its joint venture with leading Australian retailer Woolworths to construct a new meat-processing factory in Victoria, is progressing well, and is expecting to commence operations in 2015.
Hilton Food reported a pretax profit of GBP10 million in the 28 weeks to July 14, compared with GBP9.6 million a year earlier, a 4.2% increase. It said that its profitability was offset by the GBP0.5 million in initial start-up costs for the 50-50 joint venture with Woolworths.
The group said revenues rose by 9.4% to GBP593.8 million, compared with GBP543.0 million.
It said that it saw further growth in Europe, particularly in Holland, as it benefited from higher meat prices and new product lines, such as marinated sliced products and a pork stir-fry range.
Hilton Food said its newest facility in Denmark, to supply Coop Danmark, is progressing well, and during the first half of the year it added a new production line to extend its capacity and manage weekend and promotional peaks. It also said the volume of product that is being sorted by the new robotic store order picking facility in Denmark continues to develop.
Hilton Food said volume growth increased slightly by 0.7% in the period, to 116.942 tonnes, but was held back by the combination of the higher meat prices across Europe, and short-term industry issues in the UK and Ireland.
The Group said it expects profits for the full year to be in line with expectations, after factoring in the impact of the increased Australian start-up costs.
Its shares were trading flat at 437.00 pence per share, after the opening Tuesday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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